DR. KWABENA NTIRI RIVERSON &2 ORS vs. YAW SIAW ADDO

DR. DATE-BAH, J.S.C. As Isaac Watts, the English hymn-writer, in his Divine Songs for Children, says: “Birds in their little nests agree And ‘tis a shameful sight When children of one family Fall out, and chide, and fight.” The facts of the case before us poignantly present us with the spectacle that the father of English hymnody, Isaac Watts, paints. It is a case eminently suited to alternative dispute resolution but which has travelled all the way to this, the final, Court of the land and so resolve it we must. It is a shame, however, that these close relatives could not resolve the matter amicably among themselves. An overview of the facts of this case is that the Plaintiffs gave one version of the facts and the Defendant a conflicting account of the facts. The learned trial judge preferred the defendant’s account of the facts, but his decision was reversed by the Court of Appeal, applying the principles laid down in Koglex (No 2) v Field [2000] SCGLR 175. The...