SAMUEL GRAVES SAMPSON AND 2 ORS v. REV. FRANK SARKODIE AND ANOTHER

JUDGMENT

The Plaintiffs, the trustees of the Church of Christ a religious body incorporated and

registered under the laws of Ghana, applied and acquired from Lands Commission the

disputed land. Plaintiffs say that the defendants without their consent have trespassed

on the said land and used same as a place of worship. They have also commenced the

act of erecting pillars ostensibly to construct a structure thereon. Despite repeated JUDGMENT

The Plaintiffs, the trustees of the Church of Christ a religious body incorporated and

registered under the laws of Ghana, applied and acquired from Lands Commission the

disputed land. Plaintiffs say that the defendants without their consent have trespassed

on the said land and used same as a place of worship. They have also commenced the

act of erecting pillars ostensibly to construct a structure thereon. Despite repeated Lands Commission, the disputed land was leased to the Plaintiffs in the same year.

Consequently, an indenture was executed between the Government of Ghana through

the Lands Commission and the Plaintiff Church. The said indenture has since been

plotted, stamped, and registered at both the lands Commission and the Deeds Registry

as Document Number 16141 under serial number 489/2020. The same was tendered,

admitted, and marked as Exhibit “B”. It is the case of the Plaintiff that they took

effective possession of the land and erected corner pillars. However, Defendant has

trespassed on the land with earth-moving plants and machinery and graded the

disputed land destroying the pillars that have been erected by the Plaintiffs. The

Defendants by themselves or their agents/workmen started erecting pillars on the land

with the view of constructing structures thereon. Plaintiffs tendered pictures of those

activities as Exhibit “C series”. The plaintiffs say that they were served with a demand

notice for ground rent for the period between 2017-2021 and the same has been paid for.

They tendered Exhibits “D” and “D1” as evidence of same. It is the case of the Plaintiff

that they have shown all documents evidencing their ownership of the disputed land to

the Defendant but they have refused or neglected to give up vacant possession of the

land to the Plaintiffs. They further aver that in view of the conduct of the defendants,

they reported the matter to the police at Sekondi, who eventually advised the parties to

resort to redress by the court after several attempts to settle the dispute