NYAME v. TARZAN TRANSPORT AND ANOTHER

Azu Crabbe J.S.C. delivered the lead judgment in an appeal arising from a two-vehicle collision near Awendadze Village on the Nkawkaw–Kumasi road. The plaintiff, a fare-paying passenger on bus No. AG 5744 owned by the second defendant, sued both owners for negligence. The other vehicle, truck No. AG 8721, was owned by the first defendant-company, Tarzan Transport Accra, and driven by its employee, Amadu Mahama Atta. In the High Court, Kumasi, Mensa Boison J. held the first defendant solely responsible, rejecting claims that either vehicle had been stationary and disbelieving a tyre-burst explanation. On appeal, the Supreme Court emphasized the distinction between conjecture and inference, the civil standard of proof, and appellate restraint toward factual findings. Relying on a police station diary entry and the physical position of both vehicles in the left-side ditch, the Court found it more probable than not that the first defendant’s truck had deviated into the bus’s path, causing the collision. Lassey J.A. and Archer J.A. concurred. The appeal was dismissed.