MARGARET OSEI ASSIBEY v. JOYCE GBOMITTAH & ORS
2012
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- AKUFFO, (MS) JSC (PRESIDING)
- DATE-BAH, JSC
- ANSAH, JSC
- BONNIE, JSC
- BAMFO,(MRS) JSC
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Evidence Law
- Equity and Trusts
2012
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Appellant sued for a declaration of title, recovery, damages, and an injunction concerning house number 461, Kwadaso Estate, Kumasi. Initially in possession for 20 years, the Appellant claimed her late husband funded the purchase through the Respondent, who had the higher military rank needed for such property acquisition. The Respondent claimed ownership, having purchased it with a mortgage from the State Housing Corporation. The trial and appeal courts ruled in favor of the Respondent. The appeal to the Supreme Court argued improper weight given to documentary evidence (Exhibit H) and errors in the judgment against the evidence's weight. Majority held that the trial court errors in evaluating the evidence led to a miscarriage of justice, finding the property belonged to the Appellant's late husband and reversing lower courts' decisions. The dissent argued the rulings were right. Legal principles discussed included the interpretation of unambiguous documents, resulting trusts, and the high appellate standard for overturning concurrent findings.
J U D G M E N T
MINORITY OPINION
SOPHIA. A. B. AKUFFO (MS),J.S.C
Background
This is an appeal from the decision of the Court of Appeal, Kumasi, dated 17th December 2010, affirming the judgement of the High Court, Kumasi. It worth noting that although on the cover of the Record of Proceedings as well as in the statements of case respectively filed by both counsel for the parties herein one gathers, from the title of the case, an impression that there are three Respondents, it is evident from the Notice of Appeal in this Court that the sole Respondent herein is Commander G. E. Osei, who had been Co-Defendant at the trial of the matter. In this judgment, therefore, he will be referred to as the Respondent and his co-defendants at the high court will be referred as the 1st and 2nd Defendants.
Now, the brief background of the appeal is that, by a writ of Summons issued on 22nd January 2001, the Appellant herein sued the 1st and 2nd Defendants in the High Court, Kumasi, claiming:-
Declaration of title to H/No. 461, Kwadaso Estate, Kumasi
Recovery of possession
Damages for trespass
Perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their servants and or workmen and agents from in any way interfering with Plaintiff’s possession of the property.
Subsequently, the Respondent, upon his own application, was joined in the suit as a Co-Defendant.
The case of the Appellant is that she is the widow of one Mr. Samuel Kwame Kyei who, she contends, is the beneficial owner of house number 461, Kwadaso Estate, Kumasi. According to her, she and her children (together with her husband before his death) had been in undisturbed possession of H/No. 461, Kwadaso Estate, Kumasi, the subject matter in dispute herein, for twenty years prior to the commencement of the action. However, sometime after the death of her husband, the Respondent succeeded in throwing her (the Appellant) and her children out of the house, in the process of which some of her personal effects were even damaged. The Appellant further alleged that her late husband who was a junior member of the Ghana Army and functioning as a security personnel was on friendly terms with the Respondent (at the material time, the Regional Secretary for Ashanti Region) and intimated to him, his desire to purchase a house in Atonso. According to the Appellant, the Respondent, who held the rank of Commander, and was thus a senior member of the army, advised her late husband that Atonso was not a good neighbourhood and that he