BOGYA vs. BOAKYE [1980]DLHC1568

Date	1980-06-23
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1980]DLHC1568

ANSAH-TWUM J.

W. A. H. AMARTEIFIO (MISS SUTHERLAND WITH HIM) FOR THE PLAINTIFF.

BENTSI-ENCHILL (BRENU WITH HIM) FOR THE DEFENDANT.

[1980]DLHC1568
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;BOGYA
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>vs. <o:p></o:p>BOAKYE<o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT, SEKONDI] <o:p></o:p>[1980] GLR 908<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

DATE:
23
JUNE 1981<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;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

W. A. H. AMARTEIFIO (MISS SUTHERLAND WITH HIM) FOR
THE PLAINTIFF.<o:p></o:p>

BENTSI-ENCHILL (BRENU WITH HIM) FOR THE DEFENDANT.<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">

ANSAH-TWUM J.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF ANSAH-TWUM J.<o:p></o:p>As per
his writ of summons, the plaintiff claims against the defendants (¢40,000)
damages for slander. The plaintiff is a farmer and he lives at Wantram in the
Wassa Amanfi Traditional Area. According to the plaintiff, he belongs to the
stool or royal family of Wantram.<o:p></o:p>The
plaintiff pleaded in paragraphs (6) and (9) of his statement of claim that:<o:p></o:p>“(6) That
after this incident the defendant caused a gong-gong to be beaten informing the
large crowd that gathered that the plaintiff is a thief who has been stealing
other people’s livestock. (9) The stool of Wantram which should have been
occupied by the plaintiff has now eluded him because of these vicious
allegations.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
plaintiff’s case is that about three years ago, the defendant went to his, the
plaintiff’s village near Wantram and told the plaintiff that he, the defendant,
had lost two of his sheep and had been looking for same. The plaintiff said he
readily told the defendant that the sheep strayed to his farm and destroyed his
cocoa pods. He therefore caught and confined the two sheep at his village. The
plaintiff further told the court that he disclosed to the defendant that he did
not know the owner of the sheep and thinking that the sheep belonged to the
people who go about buying sheep, he treated them as stray sheep. He did later,
however, release the sheep to the defendant.<o:p></o:p>About
three days later, it was reported to him, the plaintiff, at his village that
the defendant had caused gong-gong to be beaten concerning his lost sheep. The
plaintiff said he therefore went to the defendant’s village, also near Wantram,
and asked him why he had caused the gong-gong to be beaten about the sheep
again.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
defendant told him he did not request the gong-gong to be beaten in the manner
complained of by the plaintiff. The plaintiff continued that even though he did
not believe the defendant’s denial, he went back to his village. The plaintiff
said after that incident, any time he went to Wantram town he heard people
hooting at him and calling him a thief. He did, he said, as a result of that
gong-gong beating, lose the stool of Wantram which he should be occupying now.
He has, in addition, lost the respect the people of Wantram had for him as a
royal member of the community in which he lived.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>When the
plaintiff was cross-examined by learned counsel for the defendant, he stated,
among other things, that he heard earlier that the defendant had caused the
gong-gong to be beaten to the effect that he had lost two sheep. He agreed,
however, that he kept the defendant’s sheep at his village for about one week
before he sent the sheep to his sister at Wassa Akropong, eight miles away. The
plaintiff could not therefore release the defendant’s said sheep to him when
the defendant went to the plaintiff’s village looking for them. The plaintiff
further admitted that considering the known and accepted custom of Wantram
their town, when he, the plaintiff, found the defendant’s sheep on his farm, he
should have sent the sheep to the chief of Wantram, for a gong-gong to be
beaten with a view to tracing the owner of the sheep.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>