ASARE vs. OFOSUHENE [1979]DLHC1037

Date	1979-06-15
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1979]DLHC1037

CECILIA KORANTENG-ADDOW J.

AGYARE KOI-LARBI FOR THE PLAINTIFF.

[1979]DLHC1037
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >ASARE <o:p></o:p>vs. <o:p></o:p>OFOSUHENE<o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;[1980] GLR 366<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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DATE:
15 JUNE 1979<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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AGYARE KOI-LARBI FOR THE PLAINTIFF.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

CECILIA KORANTENG-ADDOW J.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF CECILIA KORANTENG-ADDOW J.<o:p></o:p>The
plaintiff claims ¢250,000 damages for assault committed on him on the premises
of the National Investment Bank at Koforidua on 28 December 1978.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
plaintiff is a deputy manager at the National Investment Bank, and the
defendant is a warrant officer in the Ghana Army. During the period when the
government embarked upon distribution of textiles by sale from office to
office, a Ghana National Trading Corporation salesman accompanied by two
soldiers went to the premises of the National Investment Bank at Koforidua in a
pick-up vehicle with textiles to sell to the employees of the bank. When the
plaintiff in his position as deputy manager was informed of the arrival of the
mobile textiles shop on the premises, he went outside to find out from the
salesman the prices and quantity of textiles he had to sell to the bank. After
he had been supplied with this information and the plaintiff turned to go to the
office, the salesman told him to hurry up because they had other places to go
to. The plaintiff told him that they had come at the wrong time. The defendant
cut in and told the plaintiff it was not for him to tell them when they should
come. The plaintiff replied that as a manager of the bank, it was he who would
know the best time for the sales. At this, the defendant became vituperative
and started abusing the plaintiff; he told the plaintiff he was stupid. When
the plaintiff retorted, the defendant attacked him. He rushed on the plaintiff
and assaulted him with a cane. He hit him at various parts of his body. He held
the plaintiff at his tie and squeezed the tie against his neck, while the cane
went up and down each stroke landing on the plaintiff. The defendant then
called the private soldier with whom he came to assist. The private came to the
scene and started raining blows with his fist at the plaintiff’s head. All this
took place in the precincts of the bank, in full view of the plaintiff ‘s
junior officers and passers-by. The incident naturally attracted a crowd. Some
of the people intervened to rescue the plaintiff. Particularly the policeman
posted on duty at the bank came to the plaintiff ‘s rescue. Because he had a
gun in one hand, it was difficult retrieving the plaintiff from the grip of the
defendant with the free hand, but with effort the plaintiff was pulled free
from his assailants. The plaintiff suffered abrasions from the caning on his
left upper arm and at his back.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>As if the
brutal attack inflicted on the plaintiff, for no just cause, was not enough,
the defendant threatened to bring reinforcement and left the bank premises. A
little later he returned with four soldiers. By this time the plaintiff had
settled at his office, but from there he heard the defendant in the corridor
(at the bank outside the plaintiff ‘s office), demanding to see him. To divert
his anger and attention from the plaintiff, the defendant was told by the staff
at the bank that the plaintiff had gone out with the manager. The defendant
threatened that he would make room-to-room search until he found the plaintiff.
Unfortunately for the plaintiff, the defendant was in fact standing outside his
door and the first door the defendant opened, in his attempt to search all the
offices, was the plaintiff’s office door. He found the plaintiff at his desk.
The defendant and his men pounced on him again; they beat him up, pulled him
from his chair and dragged him to the corridor. They beat him and bashed him
about in their attempt to take him to what the defendant described as their
club. The incident drew a large crowd from the bank and the public at large,
and the crowd attracted the attention of a senior army officer who was passing
by. He came and ordered the defendant and his men to stop their wanton attack
on the defenceless plaintiff. The plaintiff said he reported the matter to the
police, Koforidua, but no action was taken, so he took this action.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>He
complains that apart from physical damage he endured, he suffered humiliation
and indignity, and that his feelings have been hurt and for these he claims
¢250,000 compensation. The physical injuries which the plaintiff suffered from
this attack were not serious. They were one small cut at the left arm and
another at his back. The medical report which the plaintiff tendered referred
to them as abrasions. The plaintiff also said he suffered severe bodily pain
and he had to stay away from work for two days. One of the soldiers kicked him
at the right leg and he limped on the leg with pain. In calculating his
damages, account should be taken of personal injuries and the injury to his
feelings. As I said his physical injuries were slight and that should not
attract substantial damages. For the injuries I have described above, I think
¢300 will be a fair compensatory sum to the plaintiff.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>