AKWASI OPPONG VS J. B. ABOAGYE
2018
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- REBECCA N. SITTIE (MRS) ‘J’
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Evidence Law
- Civil Procedure
2018
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
In this case, Plaintiff filed a lawsuit against Defendant seeking a declaration of ownership for a piece of land, among other reliefs. Plaintiff claimed to have acquired the land from the Onamrokor Adain Family in 1999, but Defendant contended that he had a customary grant for the land from the James Hanson Sackey Family since 1983. The court examined various pieces of evidence and prior case law to determine the rightful owner of the land. The court found that the Plaintiff was the rightful owner, had better title, and that the Defendant was a trespasser. Plaintiff was awarded damages for trespass.
The Plaintiff issued a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim against the Defendant on 27th November, 2012 for the following reliefs:
1. A declaration that Plaintiff is the owner of the land described in the schedule.
2. Perpetual injunction restraining Defendant, his agents, servants, and assigns from interfering with the land.
3. Damages for trespass.
4. Recovery of possession.
PLAINTIFF’S CASE
Plaintiff’s case is that he acquired the land in dispute in 1999 from the Head of the Onamrokor Adain Family who are the owners of the land but no documents were executed so the current Head of the Onamrokor Adain Family Arthur Hammond Tetteh Quarcoo executed a lease in his favor. It is Plaintiff’s case that the Defendant, a mechanic, has without his consent encroached on the land and erected a structure on it. Plaintiff described the land in the schedule in his Statement of Claim. Plaintiff also said in his evidence that he got the land from Jafro Larkai who contested the Headship of the Onamrokor Adain Family in 2004, though he later denied under cross-examination that Jafro Larkai gave him any document. Plaintiff denied Defendant’s assertion and joined issue with him. Plaintiff in his evidence called Arthur Hammond Tetteh Quarcoo, the current Head of the Onamrokor Family as his witness (DW1).
DEFENDANT’S CASE
The Statement of Claim was accompanied by a Writ of Summons which was served on the Defendant on 29th November, 2012. Defendant filed his Statement of Defence on 12th December 2016 in which he denied Plaintiff’s claim and said Plaintiff had no capacity to institute this action. Defendant said in an affidavit to commit Defendant for contempt dated 2010 in Suit No. AP 89/2010, Plaintiff alleged that he acquired the land from one Benjamin Mensah (Larkai) but in this suit Plaintiff avers that he acquired the land from Paul Ayitey Tettey. Defendant said in Plaintiff’s application for contempt alleged that Defendant was constructing a building on the land, the subject matter of dispute, but Plaintiff withdrew the said application after Defendant filed an affidavit in opposition. Defendant avers that the said Paul Ayitey Tetteh contested the headship of the Onamrokor Adain with Benjamin Mensah until the demise of Paul Ayitey Tetteh. Defendant claims that the Plaintiff’s grantors had no capacity to make the grant to Plaintiff and therefore any such grant is a nullity. Defendant claims he acquired a customary grant from the James Hanson Sackey Family in