[1976]DLCA360 • March 29, 1976 • Court of Appeal
ATTA AND ANOTHER vs. AMOASI AND OTHERS
The first appellant (twafohene) and the respondents (head of family and others) belonged to the Kona family of Sunkwa. A strained relationship existed due to a constitutional dispute over the deposition of the first appellant as twafohene. On 2 January 1972, the respondents were arrested on charges of theft of 150 bags of cocoa from the first appellant's farm and detained at Nkwantanum Police Station from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., then released on bail. The charges were later dismissed. The respondents claimed damages for false imprisonment, alleging the arrest was without reasonable or probable cause and motivated by malice related to the family dispute.
read moreJUDGMENT OF FRANCOIS J.A. The three respondents and the first appellant all belong to the Kona family of Sunkwa. The first respondent is the head of family and the first appellant, the twafohene, occupying the family stool. A strained relationship had existed between the parties for some time. This stemmed mainly from a constitutional difference arising from the purported deposition of the first appellant as twafohene. At the time of the incidents complained of there was no love lost between them. Early in the New Year of 1972, that is, on 2 January., the respondents were marched off from their homes at Sunkwa to a police station at Nkwantanum, some eight miles away, on charges preferred against them by the first appellant in connection with an alleged theft of 150 bags of cocoa from his farm. The respondents were kept at the police station from 8.00 a.m. till their release on bail at 4 p.m. They had thereafter to report weekly at the police station for a period of seven wee...