CHRISTINE DOE MENSAH VS EMMANUEL KOFI KUMODZI
2016
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HER LADYSHIP MRS. MERLEY WOOD J.
Areas of Law
- Family Law
2016
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The case involved a petition by the wife for the dissolution of her marriage, custody of their child, and property distribution. The court, hearing testimonies and considering evidence, found that the marriage had irretrievably broken down, granted custody of the child to the Respondent while providing reasonable access to the Petitioner, and awarded property and financial provision to the Petitioner on the grounds that properties acquired during the marriage should be equitably distributed, regardless of direct contribution.
The wife Petitioner who seeks the dissolution of the marriage between herself and the Respondent prays per the following reliefs:
a. Conveyance from the Respondent to the Petitioner of such properties as the Court may see fit to me.
b. Custody of the child with access to Respondent.
c. Permanent alimony.
d. Respondent to maintain the child of the marriage.
e. Any further reliefs the Court may deem fit.
The Respondent who filed an answer did not file any reliefs but says she is not entitled to a share of the properties acquired and she should not be given custody of the only child of the marriage.
The Petitioner who was an Information Technology Instructor at a Senior High School says after the customary marriage, they lived at Kpalime in Togo and that she stopped her teaching job and assisted the Respondent in the preparation and sales of herbal medicine.
She says when she left the matrimonial home in March 2008 to inform her family of what had transpired, after accusations of stealing a receipt, money, a mobile phone and a land document, the Respondent packed her personal effects from the home and sent them to her in Accra and subsequently brought another woman to live with him.
It is her testimony that even though the Respondent found the said items, he did not apologize to her.
According to her on 25th August, 2014, the Respondent together with some relatives attempted to dissolve the marriage customarily but her parents refused to accept the things.
She denies that there were attempts at settlement.
In cross examination she admitted that it was her father and aunt who packed her things out of the matrimonial home at Kpalime.
She also insisted in cross-examination that after she left the matrimonial home in 2008, they were reconciled in 2011. The Respondent who testified on oath says that before they got married customarily on 15th July, 2006 and the Petitioner moved in to live with him in Togo, she was unfaithful.
He alleges that misunderstandings ensued between them when he run out of money and admits accusing the Respondent of having stolen his money among other things.
He further alleges that the Petitioner sent him a text message informing him that she was no longer interested in the marriage whilst visiting her mother in Ghana and that an attempt at reconciliation failed a year later.
It is his testimony that ten months later her personal effects were packed out from the matrimonial home in Togo and that in 2013 she came to ask for