[1975]DLCA398 • December 5, 1975 • Court of Appeal
KNUDSEN vs. KNUDSEN
The case arose from a petition for divorce filed by Mrs. Christiana Knudsen against her husband, Dr. Peter Knudsen, a Danish medical doctor. The marriage produced three children. The wife alleged that the husband expressed a desire to separate without cause, leading her to seek divorce. The husband counter-petitioned citing the wife's persistent and violent behavior over many years, including destruction of property, accusations affecting his professional life, and interference with their children, which made cohabitation intolerable. The wife denied these allegations. The husband lived with the wife in Ghana for several months after returning in 1973, ostensibly for the children's welfare and to seek judicial separation, but the marriage was ultimately found to have irretrievably broken down.
read moreJUDGMENT OF AMISSAH J.A. This is case began by a wife, Mrs. Christiana Knudsen, filing a petition for divorce from her husband, Peter Knudsen. Mrs. Knudsen is a Ghanaian. Her husband is a medical doctor by profession and Danish by nationality. There are three children of the marriage-two boys, Eric and Henry, aged at the time the petition was filed on 21 October 1973, sixteen and twelve years respectively and a girl, Mary then aged fifteen. In her petition, the wife after the usual recitals stated: “(4) That without any cause whatsoever the respondent has expressed the desire that he no longer wants the petitioner and that they should execute a deed of separation. (5) That in view of matters stated in paragraph (4) above, the petitioner cannot live with the respondent again.” This was the sole cause which the wife disclosed for her seeking the divorce. By an affidavit which accompanied the petition, the wife swore that the facts contained in paragraph (4) of her pe...