The Defendant/Applicant herein on the 20th day of August 2022 brought the instant motion for leave to file additional witness statement.
It is the contention of the applicant that on the 6th day of August 2021, he appointed Messrs. Beyuo and Co. as his solicitors in place of his former solicitors.
That prior to appointing the legal firm to handle the case, the case had travelled far with the 1st witness of the Plaintiff under cross examination.
There was therefore the need in reviewing the file towards completing cross examination of the Plaintiff’s witness.
That subsequently upon further review of the file in preparation to open the Defendant’s case, it was detected that even though there were draft witness statements for one Mohammed Afful and Nii Abbey Tesa but these witness statements were not filed in the Registry of the Court. Attached to the application are Exhibits NKM1 and NKM2 being the draft witness statements of Mohammed Afful and Nii Abbey Tesa respectively.
The applicant contended that the non-filing of the two witness statements was not out of malice but inadvertence on the part of the former solicitor.
That the name of Mohammed Afful was mentioned by the Defendant in the Pre-trial check list as one of the witnesses to be called.
That the testimony of Mohammed Afful who is the Defendant’s caretaker on the land since 1992 and Nii Abbey Tesa who handled the documentation and execution of the four (4) indentures for the Defendant and also son of the former head of family of the Numo Anum family are very relevant to the determination of the matters in the suit.
The applicant aver that the grant of this application will not prejudice the case of the Plaintiff in anyway as the Plaintiff will have the opportunity to cross examine the witnesses.
He therefore pray for leave to file witness statements for Mohammed Afful and Nii Abbey Tesa and to call them as witnesses in this matter.
In a 50 paragraph affidavit filed, the Plaintiff/Respondent vehemently opposed the application.
In brief the Respondent stated emphatically that the two applications which seek to file two additional witness statements are frivolous, unmeritorious and an abuse of the legal process and same ought to be dismissed.
The Respondent traced the synopsis or background of the case that on or about 28th day of November 2018 the applicant’s counsel, Assad Gbadegbe of Beyuo and Co. filed a Notice of Change of Lawyer on behalf of the Defendant replacing the lawyer on recor
