[2010]DLSC2543 • February 23, 2010 • Supreme Court •
DR. OWUSU AFRIYIE AKOTO vs. ADWOA ABREFI AKOTO
The appellant and respondent, married by custom in 1974 and converted to a monogamous marriage in England in 1976, cohabited mainly in the UK and had three children. The marriage deteriorated after the respondent discovered incriminating letters in 1997, leading to the appellant filing for divorce. The respondent filed a cross-petition seeking dissolution and ancillary reliefs including joint ownership declarations over properties in Ghana and the UK, financial settlements, child custody, and maintenance.
read moreATUGUBA, J.S.C: The facts of this case as gleaned from the Petitioner / Appellant /Appellant’s statement of case and the judgment of the court of appeal are as follows: The Appellant and the Respondent who were husband and wife got married by custom in July 1974. The marriage was converted into a monogamous marriage under ordinance in Cambridge England on July 16, 1976. After the said marriage the couple cohabitated mainly in the United Kingdom and apparently had a blissful relationship that was blessed with three issues from 1974-1997, when the Respondent discovered two letters that caused the otherwise blissful marriage to unravel leading to the Appellant filing for divorce on August 29, 1997 while the Respondent was still in England. Nineteen days later the Respondent filed a Cross Petition for the dissolution of the marriage and other ancillary reliefs which included properties both within and outside the jurisdiction, as follows: “(a) dissolving the marriage, (b) dec...