RULING

ADJEI-FRIMPONG, JSC

This application is a progeny of land suit No. LD/0165/2023, intituled GOLDEN EXOTICS LIMITED VRS NAA KORDEI II a.k.a. OPHELIA ASHAMI SAI AND OTHERS pending in the High Court, Land Division, Accra (the Trial Court). Following an allegation that certain persons, including the Applicant and the 3rd Interested Party, aware of the pending suit, were on the land using heavy equipment and armed guards to win sand, a contempt application was mounted in the trial court. The 1st Interested Party filed the said application. Events subsequent to the filing of the contempt application, have resulted in this application invoking this Court’s supervisory jurisdiction.

According to the applicant, he was never served with the contempt application. In fact, he was not specifically named in the application. He appeared to have been described in the title of the application as “Director of Operations of Commanex Investment Ltd”. This designation was listed as the 5th Respondent in that application. When the application came on for hearing, Lawyer for the 1st Interested Party, in his absence mentioned his name as the 5th Respondent based on which the trial Judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest.

The bench warrant, according to the applicant, was issued against representation of Lawyer for the 3rd Interested Party who was present in court at the time albeit not as Lawyer for the applicant. The Lawyer’s representation was that it was required to amend the title of the contempt application to include the name of the applicant and have him served before the issuance of the bench warrant if he failed to appear. This, the trial Judge was said to have disregarded. In any event, the applicant was arrested on the bench warrant, detained in the police cells for two days and brought before the trial court on 18th November 2024. On the said day, the bench warrant was rescinded. The applicant was made the 3rd Respondent in the application after the names of three others had been struck off the application.

The applicant claims that in the course of the proceedings on both the 18th November 2024 and 2nd December 2024 he suffered hostility from the trial Judge. For fear of being convicted and jailed on the contempt application, he filed an application to request the Judge to recuse himself (the R