BECKLEY vs. BECKLEY AND ANOTHER [1974]DLHC2261

Date	1974-02-20
Suit No.
DL Citation No.	[1974]DLHC2261

• ABBAN J.

• J. REINDORF FOR THE PLAINTIFF.

• K. R. A. KORSAH FOR THE DEFENDANTS.

[1974]DLHC2261
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 <main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" ><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
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mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#548DD4;mso-themecolor:text2;mso-themetint:
153">BECKLEY <o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;mso-fareast-font-family:Times;
mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#548DD4;mso-themecolor:text2;mso-themetint:
153">vs. <o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;mso-fareast-font-family:Times;
mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#548DD4;mso-themecolor:text2;mso-themetint:
153">BECKLEY AND ANOTHER <o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT,
ACCRA]<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[1974] 1 GLR 393<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

DATE:
20 FEBRUARY 1974.<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

J.
REINDORF FOR THE PLAINTIFF.<o:p></o:p>

K. R. A.
KORSAH FOR THE DEFENDANTS.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

ABBAN J.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF ABBAN J.<o:p></o:p>The
plaintiff, in her originating summons, prayed specifically for the following
reliefs, namely:<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">(a) that
the court may grant the plaintiff the custody of an infant, Edward Kofi
Beckley;<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">(b) that
the court may grant reasonable maintenance for the support, care and education
of the said infant, and<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">(c) that
the first defendant, who is the plaintiff’s husband, be ordered to pay to the
plaintiff reasonable maintenance for her support.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>It should
be noted that the summons was issued by a wife, as plaintiff, against her
husband who is the first defendant. The husband’s mother is the second
defendant. For convenience the plaintiff may hereinafter be referred to either
as the wife or as the mother, the first defendant as the husband or as the
father, and the second defendant as the grandmother.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The wife
is a Russian citizen and the husband is a Ghanaian. They were married on 9 July
1969, in the City of Kalinin in the Soviet Union where the husband was a
medical student. The couple came to Ghana after the husband’s course, and they
set up their matrimonial home in Accra where they happily cohabitated. The
husband was employed by the Ministry of Health and was stationed at Korle Bu
Teaching Hospital as a medical officer. On 26 February 1971, the wife gave
birth to the first and only child of the marriage and the child was named
Edward. The husband was later transferred to the Central Hospital, Koforidua,
and the family naturally moved from Accra to Koforidua. At Koforidua, differences
arose between the parties and, in consequence thereof, on or about 21 September
1973, they separated.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The wife
attributed the cause of the separation to the fault of the husband. The wife
went to Russia to visit her parents. She spent about six months there. When she
came back to Ghana, she noticed considerable change in the attitude of the
husband towards the marriage. She said the husband had always been interested
in Christianity and in juju at the same time. But on her return from Russia,
she discovered that the juju practices were occupying him to the exclusion of
almost everything. The result was that the husband refused to have regular
sexual intercourse with the wife on the pretext “that relations with women were
forbidden by his juju for some unspecified length of time while he was carrying
out certain rites.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The wife,
in the circumstances, had to sleep in a separate bedroom and for some four
months before the actual separation, sexual intercourse between them had
completely ceased. Apart from refusing to have sexual intercourse with the
wife, he also refused to eat food cooked by the wife and so they had their
meals separately.<o:p></o:p>