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August 14, 2023
DISTRICT COURT
GHANA
CORAM
JUDGMENT
By a writ of summons filed on 13/7/2023, Plaintiff sued Defendant for the following reliefs.
a) Cash sum of Seven Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC7,000.00) being the cost of cassava
Defendant harvested from the plaintiff’s farm without her notice.
b) Cost.
BACKGROUND TO THE SUIT.
Plaintiff herein is a farmer at Duayaw Nkwanta. The defendant is a Teacher at susuanho.
Plaintiff contends that she has a farm at a place called Gugumsereme where she has been
cultivating foodstuffs for more than 30 years now and that she cultivated cassava on land
about 2 years ago.
Plaintiff continued that she travelled to her hometown and upon her return, she noticed
that the cassava in her farm have been harvested and upon inquiry she got to know that it
was the Defendant who have harvested her cassava and Defendant confirmed same with
the reason that he has purchased the land and that he is ready to compensate the plaintiff
with Ghc500.00.
PLEA
The Defendant pleaded not liable to the reliefs sought by the plaintiff setting up the matter
for trial.
ISSUES FOR DETERMINATION
The issue before the court is whether or not plaintiff was able to establish her claim 7000ghc
for harvesting her Cassava without her notice.
MODE OF TRIAL.
The court did not order the parties to file pleadings. The mode of trial was by oral evidence.
The plaintiff testified herself and called no other witness. Defendant also testified himself
and called no other witness.
STANDARD OF PROOF, BURDEN OF PROOF AND PERUATION.
A writ of summon as a form of civil litigation, the standard of proof is one on balance of
probabilities or preponderance of probabilities. The proof as prescribed in civil trials is
provided in section 10, 11 and 12 of the Evidence Act, 1975 (NRCD 323). These sections on
burden of proof, burden of persuasion and burden of producing evidence, provide thus:
(1) For the purposes of this Act, the burden of persuasion means the obligation of a party
to establish a requisite degree of belief concerning a fact in the mind of the tribunal of fact
or the Court.
(2) The burden of persuasion may require a party
(a) to raise a reasonable doubt concerning the existence or non-existence of a fact, or
(b) to establish the existence or non-existence of a fact by a preponderance of the
probabilities or by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
11 (1) For the purposes of this Act, the burden of producing evidence means the obligation
of a party to introduce sufficient eviden
AI Generated Summary
His Worship Stanley Adjei ESQ delivered a judgment on a civil claim brought by a farmer from Duayaw Nkwanta against a teacher at Susuanho concerning cassava harvested from land at Gugumsereme. The Plaintiff maintained she had cultivated cassava on land given by an elderly woman and her daughter, Auntie Manu, and sought GHC7,000 after the Defendant harvested the crop during her absence. The Defendant stated he had purchased plot number 95 on 15/10/2021, gave the Plaintiff ample time to remove her crops, attempted to compensate her, and ultimately harvested the cassava in June 2023, netting GHC500 after costs. Applying the Evidence Act, 1975 (NRCD 323) and the preponderance standard, the court found the Plaintiff failed to establish her claim. The action was dismissed and costs of GHC200 were awarded against the Plaintiff.