FLORENCE AGGUDEY and ORS v. MRS. DJABA and ORS

ACQUAYE, J.A.

This is an appeal against the ruling of a High Court in Accra which granted an interlocutory injunction against the defendants/appellants over a parcel of land then under litigation till its final determination.

The facts preceeding this appeal are that the plaintiffs/respondents issued a writ of summons against the defendants/appellants claiming title to a parcel of land at Mamobi in Accra.

The plaintiffs/respondents claimed the land as beneficiaries of their mother Margaret Agbeshie Nartey (Deceased) who leased the land from the late Nii Dowuona V, the Osu Mantse in July 1968.

The title deed was registered as number 723/1970.

On 15th August 2007 the plaintiffs/respondents registered their interest in the land with Land Title Certificate Registration Number GA 25032.

They claimed that their late mother leased the parcel of land to an auto engineering firm B.B. Motors for over thirty-five years but when they entered the land after vacating the auto engineering firm, the defendants/appellants laid adverse claim to the land hence the writ of summons.

In their statement of defence the defendants averred that their late father Joseph Tetteh Djaba acquired the parcel of land by a deed of conveyance dated 24th September 2005 from Emmanuel Yaw Attigah registered at the Deeds Registry as Number 131/1976.

The said Emmanuel Yaw Attigah also acquired the land from Nii Dowuona V by a deed of conveyance dated 6th July 1964 registered as Number 2352/1975.

The defendants/appellants averred that the plaintiffs/respondents who share boundary with them trespassed unto their land and they reported the matter to the Property Fraud Unit of the Ghana Police Service who after thorough investigations, found that the defendants’ site plan corresponded with the land in dispute whilst the plaintiffs/respondents site plan fell in another location far from the land in dispute.

The Property Fraud Unit therefore issued two police reports confirming the defendants/appellants title to the land in dispute.

The defendants/appellants contended that the land the subject matter of the plaintiffs/respondents documents of title is separate and distinct and lies at a different location and shares boundary with the defendants/appellants land.

The defendants/appellants contended that if the plaintiffs/respondents have registered the land belonging to the estate of Joseph Tetteh Djaba in their names, then the said registration was procured by fraud or mistake and that it is