AMARTEIFIO v. ANKRAH & ANOR

JUDGMENT OF OLLENNU J.

In this case Benjamin William Amarteifio claims Declaration of Title to House No. D.243/2, Bukom, Accra, and an Order for recovery of possession. He alleges that he purchased the said house from one Madam Kowah Nunoo (popularly called Yawah Nunoo) in 1943, a Deed of Conveyance thereof being executed in his favour by his said vendor on the 10th March, 1959.

The defendants deny that the plaintiff purchased the said house as alleged. In the alternative they plead that even if the plaintiff did purchase the said house as alleged, then he did so with moneys contributed by the family; but they do not specify to which family they refer. They further plead that they are not trespassers, that they have lived in the house for a long time with full knowledge of the plaintiff, and that they have contributed moneys to the plaintiff for the upkeep of the house.

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From the evidence it appears that the cause of action is refusal by the defendants to recognise the plaintiff's title to the house, and his right to claim rents in respect thereof.

It is common ground between the parties that the house in dispute was the self-acquired property of the late D. Amarteifio, who died intestate in 1908. The plaintiff is a son of the said D. Amarteifio, and the defendants are children of two daughters of one E. W. Amarteifio, who also was a son of the late D. Amarteifio.

According to D. W. I. Faustinatious Amarteifio, (son of E. W. Amarteifio) the said D. Amarteifio left surviving him four children, of whom the plaintiff was the youngest. The four children were J. W. Amarteifio, F. W. Amarteifio, E. W. Amarteifio, and B. W. Amarteifio (the plaintiff). These four sons succeeded to their said deceased's father's property. The plaintiff says that the late D. Amarteifio had daughters also, three of whom are still alive.

The plaintiff admitted that he and E.W. Amarteifio lived in the house for some time. Later, the plaintiff left, but E. W. Amarteifio continued to live there up to 1956, when he died. The plaintiff agreed with a suggestion made to him in cross-examination that when he and his said brother E.W. Amarteifio lived in the house, they did so as caretakers of the house up to the time the plaintiff left. Faustinatious, on the other hand, says that it was E.W. Amarteifio alone who looked after the house.

It is admitted by both sides that the property was sold at public auction in 1936 by order of the District Magistrate's Court, in execution of