[2023]DLHC16836 • December 8, 2023 • High Court
ANTHONY OSARFO vs. ASAMOAH GYAN AND SAMUEL ANIM ADDO
The Plaintiff, a journalist and screenwriter, alleged that the Defendants caused the Police to arrest and charge him with conspiracy to extort money, knowing the allegations were false. The Defendants, including the manager of the well-known footballer Asamoah Gyan, lodged a complaint alleging extortion and testified in the criminal case. The Plaintiff was acquitted. The Plaintiff claimed damages for malicious prosecution, loss of income, and damage to reputation due to the widely publicized arrest and prosecution.
read moreJUDGMENT i. Introduction [1] In his 1844 Article, 'Defects of Criminal Procedure', Law Magazine, 34/64 (1844), p. 257 Pitt Taylor made an illuminating observation that: ... the accusatorial duties are too often conducted in the worst spirit, and criminal courts of justice become subservient to the purposes of passionate, vindictive, personal animosity. This case brings up a well-known area of tort action namely malicious prosecution. The elements of this tort are well known as it is cause of action with very long history going back to the eighteenth century. To succeed in an action of malicious prosecution the plaintiff must show: (1) that the defendant prosecuted him or instigated his prosecution; (2) that the prosecution ended in the defendant’s favour; (3) that there was no reasonable and probable cause for the prosecution; and (4) that the defendant was actuated by ‘malice’. See B. S. Markesinis and S.F. Deakin Tort of Law (4th Ed, OUP, 1999). It is refreshing also ...