CHARLES SMITH AND SAMUEL SMITH JNR v. CHARLES AUGUSTUS APPIAH
October 27, 2022
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HER LADYSHIP MALIKE AWO WOANYAH DEY (HIGH COURT JUDGE
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Evidence Law
- Tort Law
- Civil Procedure
October 27, 2022
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
This High Court land dispute arises from competing claims over plots 144 and 145 at Adisadel Village, Cape Coast. The plaintiffs purchased and registered the land in 1973 from the Fikessim Ebiradze family (LSC 417/74), maintained possession by demarcating boundaries, storing materials in a container, and obtaining permits (2000, renewed 2015 and 2020). In December 2020, the defendant entered and began construction, asserting a 2013 purchase with Miss Sheila Flora Anyanwu from the Ketsi Anona family and claiming the parcel was distinct. Under cross-examination, he admitted a Lands Commission search revealed the plaintiffs’ prior registration and relied on his grantor’s unsubstantiated claim of a judgment he never produced. A court-appointed surveyor’s composite plan showed substantial overlap, confirming encroachment. Applying the preponderance standard, the court credited the plaintiffs’ documents and possession, found trespass, declared their title, ordered recovery and an injunction, and awarded GHC 20,000 damages plus GHC 10,000 costs.
JUDGMENT
On 19th February 2021, the plaintiffs herein issued a writ out of the registry of this
Court claiming the following reliefs against the defendant;
1. Declaration of title to all that piece or parcel of land known as nos. 144 and 145
situate in the Adisadel Village layout in the Cape Coast Municipality in the
Eguafo District of the Central Region of Ghana as particularly described in the
writ of summons and statement of claim and covering an approximate area of
0.58 acres.
2. Recovery of Possession
3. Perpetual Injunction restraining the defendant, his agents, or any persons
claiming through him from entering or causing anything to be brought on the
land or building on the land in dispute pending the final determination of the
suit
4. General Damages for Trespass
5. Costs, including legal fees
Per the statement of claim, the plaintiffs acquired a piece of land from the Fikessim
Ebiradze family on 18th September 1973, and a document evidencing their acquisition
was executed in their favour by their grantors. Thereafter, the lease was registered at
the Lands Commission, Cape Coast, as LSC 417/74 with File No. 34049/786. After the
acquisition, the plaintiffs were put in possession in 1974 and have been on it since that
year without any adverse claim from anyone. According to them, the land was bare
as the whole area was virgin at the time of the purchase, and they have been clearing
the land from time to time as and when the need arose. They also secured the land by
placing corner pillars to clearly demarcate their boundaries which are visible to
anyone who came on the land.
Additionally, they allege that they built a four-bedroom house foundation on it and
are in the process of constructing the building. The plaintiffs also placed a container
on the land where they stored building materials for their project and put a caretaker
named George Andoh, who lives on an adjoining land. They also acquired building
permits for their building.
They averred that in December 2020, the defendant trespassed onto about 50% of the
land and began digging trenches to construct a building. The plaintiffs confronted the
defendant about the encroachment and warned him to desist from it, but he failed to
cease the trespass on that portion of the land. The plaintiffs reported the matter to the
police, but all warnings failed to stop the defendant from his acts of trespass.
Wherefore the plaintiffs brought this action against him for