JUDGMENT OF KORANTENG-ADDOW J.
On 18 November 1974, the plaintiff, a middle-aged woman, was waiting in the early hours of the morning by the street at Kotokuraba in Cape Coast for transport to convey her to Accra. A vehicle came along and she hailed it to stop. It was police jeep No. GP. 449. Before she boarded, she noticed that it was a police jeep, nevertheless she told the driver she was going to Accra and demanded to know the fare. The driver charged her ¢2 for herself and her luggage. She agreed and boarded the vehicle. The vehicle, police jeep No. GP. 449, was driven by Constable Kofi Asare. At Anomabu the constable stopped and picked three other passengers.
The jeep was moving at great speed. The plaintiff admonished the driver against overspeeding but the driver told her he had been sent from Takoradi to Accra, implying that he was in a hurry to get to Accra. Sometimes he paid heed to the admonition, and slowed down, but generally his speed was high. At Mankesim the plaintiff fell asleep. The next thing she realised was that she was lying ill at Winneba Hospital, with serious injuries and in pain all over her body. The police vehicle had been involved in an accident at about six miles from the Winneba Junction towards Accra. She had multiple lacerations on the face, arms and right leg. There were also deep lacerations on the upper part of the right tibia with evulsion of the skin, and compound fracture of the right femur. At the time she gave evidence, [p.628] she was still continuing her treatment at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. The court had to move to her bedside to record her evidence. Dr. Korsah's opinion of her condition at that stage was that the plaintiff had three inches shortening of the right leg and that even though he thought the plaintiff might be able to walk again, she would have a shortened leg and a permanent stiff knee, and that that leg would only serve as a pillar of support and will only be functional to a very low degree. At the stage of her treatment, he assessed her incapacity at 55 per cent.
The plaintiff is a housewife who did poultry farming on a very moderate scale, and a lot of backyard gardening. As a result of this accident, she has had to abandon completely these hobbies from which she derived financial support. She is now a very unhappy and an unhealthy person. She brings this action against the Attorney-General as a nominal defendant representing the government, the employer of the driver in charge of the
