FRANCIS ATINTONO v. MR EDWARD ADETI
2022
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- V. D. OFOE, JA (PRESIDING)
- J. BARTELS-KODWO (MRS.), JA
- S. R. BERNASKO ESSAH (MRS.), JA
Areas of Law
- Tort Law
- Media Law
2022
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Justice V. D. Ofoe, writing for the Court of Appeal, affirmed the Bolgatanga Circuit Court’s dismissal of a libel action brought by Francis Atintono, BONABOTO’s Upper East Regional Chairman and a polytechnic lecturer, against Starr FM correspondent Edward Adeti over an online story captioned “BONABOTO Chair Assaults Starr Reporter” with a photo juxtaposing a police commander and Adeti with Atintono. The appellate court held that the caption and story were capable of defamatory meaning and clarified that online publication on starrfmonline satisfies the element of “publication.” Nevertheless, it found Atintono failed to lead evidence that his reputation was damaged and, while Adeti’s truth defence failed because no assault was proven, the plaintiff’s claim still faltered for want of proof of defamation. Applying Owusu v Domena and related authorities, the court dismissed the appeal and made no order as to costs, with Justices J. Bartels-Kodwo and S. R. Bernasko Essah concurring.
V. D. OFOE
The plaintiff claiming that he has been libeled by the publication of the defendant, a journalist by profession and the regional correspondent for Star FM, sued him on the 12th of July 2017 in the Bolgatanga Circuit Court claiming:
(a) An order for the defendant to publish a retraction of the libelous publication and apologize to the plaintiff through the same medium first used
(b) An Order for the defendant to compensate the plaintiff to the tune of Twenty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC20,000.00) for the libelous publication by the defendant on Starr fm on line in February 2017
(c) An Order for general damages for libel against the defendant
(d) Cost and any further Orders as the Honourable Court may deem fit and just
What was the nature of the libelous publication? The plaintiff provided the particulars as follows:
“a. That the defendant published a story captioned BONABOTO’S CHAIRMAN ASSAULT STARR REPORTER
b. The defendant published the picture of the plaintiff and a policeman attached to the said story which imputes that the plaintiff has been arrested by the police”
The case of the plaintiff is that the publication is false to the knowledge of the defendant and published without care for the truth, dignity and reputation of the plaintiff.
A little back ground to the publication complained of by the plaintiff.
There was allegation of 5 missing vehicles from the Upper East Regional Health Directorate which got the attention of BONABOTO, a Non-Governmental Association. The Association issued a statement demanding investigations into the matter. A tape recording surfaced which was making rounds in the town indicating that the Association members were not unanimous on the decision to investigate the missing vehicles. The tape recording had the voice of the defendant mentioning Robert Ajene, Peter Gaga as those in BONABOTO who were not in support of the decision to investigate. The plaintiff and these identified persons decided to find out from the defendant where he got his information from since the Association was not divided as the defendant will want the public to know. At this encounter with the defendant in his office tempers were high with serious exchanges between the defendant and the three. It was subsequent to this meeting that the defendant made this libelous publication. It is the case of the plaintiff that there was no assault as portrayed by the publication and even though the defendant was given the opportunity to retract t