ADRIAN NII ODOI ODDOYE & ANOR VS ROBERT BOSCO & ORS
2018
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- REBECCA N. S. SITTIE (MRS) ‘J’
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Civil Procedure
- Evidence Law
- Contract Law
- Tort Law
2018
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Plaintiffs, as administrators of the Estate of Victoria Oddoye, brought a case against the Defendants claiming ownership of a 5.64-acre parcel of land, seeking damages for trespass, and other reliefs. The Plaintiffs argued their parents acquired the land in 1979 and were in possession since then. Defendants counterclaimed ownership, alleging the Plaintiffs were mere licensees for agricultural purposes. The court examined several issues, including ownership, possession, and allegations of fraud. Evidence included mismatched site plans, lack of physical inspection, and established customary grants. The court concluded in favor of the Plaintiffs, affirming their title to the land, ordering amendments to the Defendants' Land Certificates, dismissing claims of fraud, and granting conditional forfeiture contingent on pending discussions.
Plaintiffs issued a Writ of Summons against the 1st Defendant on 11th April 2012. By a series of joinders, the 2nd and 3rd Defendants were joined to the suit. With leave of the Court, the Plaintiffs amended the Writ of Summons and sought the following reliefs against Defendants jointly and severally as follows:
a. Damages for trespass
b. An Order for perpetual injunction to restrain the Defendants and their agents, privies, and assigns from entering onto or in any way disturbing the Plaintiffs and their caretaker’s possession of the land.
c. An Order canceling the Land Certificate No. GA36749, Volume 59, Folio 375 issued by mistake to the Defendants.
d. Cost including legal cost.
PLAINTIFFS’ CASE
The Plaintiffs are the Administrators of the Estate of the late Victoria Oddoye who died on 4th October 2008. Plaintiffs claim that their mother, the late Victoria Oddoye, in her lifetime acquired the land in dispute from the Okpoti Nkpa Kwashie Agbawe Family of Oyarifa, Accra, acting per its then Head of Family Numo Okpoh Nkpa Kwashie and the principal members of the family sometime in 1979 together with her late husband, Gottfried Tawiah Oddoye. Plaintiffs described the land in dispute in paragraph 3 of their Statement of Claim as “All that piece of land situate at Oyarifa, Accra and covering an area of 5.64 acres and bounded on the North-West by land measuring 420 feet more or less, on the North-East by land measuring 575 feet more or less, on the South-East by land measuring 420 feet more or less, and on the South-West by land measuring 575 feet more or less.
Plaintiffs say their late parents Mr. and Mrs. Oddoye went into possession immediately after the acquisition of the land and planted trees around the land as a hedge; some of those trees are still present on the land to date. It is Plaintiffs’ case that their late parents have a farm on an adjoining land and have at all material time been in possession of the land the subject matter of the dispute and have from time to time cleared it of weeds and shrubs. Plaintiffs said their family Solicitor misplaced their land documents and their late mother on 7th September 2000 deposed to a Statutory Declaration as to her ownership and possession of the land and had the same plotted for her at the Lands Commission, Accra.
Plaintiffs say the Defendants recently trespassed on the land by passing through their farm on the adjoining land because they could not pass through the impregnable trees “wall” without cu