A 30-year-old former footballer, Mawuli Jonny, has shared new details about the events that led to his 10-year imprisonment, insisting he was wrongly convicted over a robbery he never participated in.

Mawuli told Crime Check Foundation that he was only 23 years old when he arranged to meet a young woman, Selina Zakaria, through the MeetUp dating platform.

The two met at Sankara, a junction within the Teshie-Nungua enclave, and were heading to his residence when a man known as Isaac Zanyoh Tutey suddenly approached them.

Earlier reports indicated that Isaac accused Selina of previously taking his belongings and seized her bag, which held an Infinix phone, valued at GHS450, and a few personal items.

However,  from court documents that prosecutors believed Isaac was not acting alone.

The prosecution claimed that Isaac was Mawuli’s “accomplice” and that the two had positioned other alleged gang members — identified as Kojo, Bashiru, and Bright — near the Sankara Junction.

According to their account, these individuals, who remain at large, were supposedly waiting to assist in a planned robbery.

Mawuli maintains that this entire narrative was fabricated.

He says he had no prior relationship with Isaac and was shocked when he later learned that police investigators treated Isaac as part of the case but ultimately released him.

According to Mawuli, officers allegedly accepted money from Isaac and allowed him to walk free, while he himself was detained because he refused to pay what he describes as a GHS3,000 “bail fee.”

“It felt like the system had already chosen me as the person they wanted to punish,” he said.

In a striking revelation, Mawuli claims that the complainant, Selina, eventually admitted to the police that her earlier statements were untrue.

But by that time, he says, the case had already advanced, and it made no difference.

“It was too late. Everything had moved too far. Even when she said she lied, nothing changed,” he stated

Mawuli, who served the full 10-year sentence, says the experience destroyed his football dreams and left him struggling to rebuild his life.

He hopes sharing his story will shed light on what he believes are deep flaws in the justice system, especially in cases involving vulnerable young men.