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December 18, 2023
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
The Applicants pray this Honourable Court to commit the Respondent to prison for contempt of Court.
Particularly for disobeying the judgment of the Circuit Court, Juaso dated 7th September, 2020. According to the Applicants, the Juaso Circuit Court in a Suit titled ‘Yaw Amoah vs Obeng Agyei & 3 Ors No. C1/19/2012, ruled in their favour in a land suit brought by the Respondent as Plaintiff.
That the Circuit Court, ruled that the land in question did not belong to the Respondent.
A copy of the judgment is attached as Exhibit A. The Applicants aver that despite this judgment, the Respondent has been carrying out vigorous and sustained bulldozing on the said land with the aim of building a fuel station on the land the subject matter of the judgment.
The Applicants attached exhibit D series, pictures of the work being undertaken by the Respondent to their affidavit in support.
In very quick succession to the presentation of this contempt application, the Applicants filed supplementary and further supplementary affidavits in support of their application on the 22nd and 31st of May, 2023. The facts canvassed by these two affidavits are basically that whilst the application for contempt against the Respondent was pending in Court and having been served with these processes, the Respondent in gross disregard and disrespect for the Court’s authority, has brazenly gone ahead to almost complete one of the buildings on the land, subject matter of the circuit court suit.
They attached exhibits E, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, NO, O1 and O2, pictures showing the various activities on the land at Dansa.
ARGUMENTS BY COUNSEL FOR APPLICANTS In his submissions before this Court, learned Counsel for the Applicants, urges this Court to commit the Respondent to a maximum security prison for one year, to serve as a deterrent to persons who willfully disobey Court orders.
He rehashed the facts as already presented in the affidavits in support.
He prays the Court to take note of the Respondent’s dishonest approach to the matters presented against him.
He also draws the Court’s attention to the exhibits which are similar from both sides but have different dates.
Particularly, the dates on the Respondent’s exhibits which create the impression that the works had been completed before the Respondent was cited for contempt.
Counsel for the Applicant concludes that the Respondent has obviously backdated his pictures to deceive this court.
Counsel again disputes Respondent’s assertio
AI Generated Summary
In the High Court, Her Ladyship Rosemary Baah Tosu considered a contempt application by the Applicants seeking to commit Obeng Agyei to prison for allegedly disobeying a Juaso Circuit Court judgment (7 September 2020) arising from the land suit ‘Yaw Amoah v. Obeng Agyei & 3 Ors.’ The Applicants alleged Agyei continued bulldozing and construction toward a fuel station on the Dansa land despite the Circuit Court’s decision that the land did not belong to him, and they filed supplementary affidavits with photographic evidence. Agyei opposed, asserting the judgment found the land belonged to the Ward 2 community, not to the Applicants, and that he subsequently negotiated with the Asante Akyem North Municipal Assembly and obtained Agogo Stool approval, producing documents and photos showing construction largely complete before the contempt filing. Emphasizing that capacity is a threshold issue in contempt proceedings fought on affidavit evidence, the Court held the Applicants failed to establish authority from the community or assembly, struck out the application, and awarded GH¢2,000 costs to the Respondent.