George Bernard Shaw, legal counsel for Yaw Asante Agyekum, has alleged that notorious armed robber Ataa Ayi and a co-accused were tortured by police to extract confessions during their detention — confessions that wrongly implicated Agyekum and formed the basis for his conviction.
Yaw Asante Agyekum was sentenced to 35 years in 2010 after being linked to Ataa Ayi, who was jailed for 160 years. But on June 5, 2025, the Court of Appeal acquitted and discharged Agyekum, ending a 15-year legal ordeal.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Wednesday, June 11, Mr. Shaw recounted disturbing accounts of police brutality during interrogations, alleging that Ataa Ayi and the first accused, Nana Owusu, were coerced into naming Agyekum.
“He [Yaw Agyekum] denied everything; he told the police that he didn’t have anything to do with it. All he knew was that [Ataa Ayi] brought bikes on and off to be repaired for him,” Shaw said.
He added that Agyekum only had indirect ties to Ataa Ayi through mutual acquaintances and that he had provided the police with information that helped track down Nana Owusu and, later, Ataa Ayi.
“During police interrogation… they were tortured to extract information from them. In the process, according to the police, Ataa Ayi and another person confessed that Yaw Asante Agyekum was part of the robbery. And they relied on it and used it at trial,” Shaw stated.
Agyekum, originally arrested in 2002, was convicted in 2010 of conspiracy to commit murder, accused of working as a mechanic for Ataa Ayi’s robbery gang, which terrorised parts of Accra in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
However, the Court of Appeal ruled that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence linking Agyekum to the crimes. A three-member panel—Justices Aboagye Tanoh, Stephen Oppong, and Janapare Bartels Kodwo—overturned the conviction, noting that Agyekum had no legal representation during his trial and that the evidence used to convict him was inadequate.
Shaw said the ruling not only vindicates his client but also highlights troubling flaws in the criminal justice process.
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