KWABENA ADDO vs. ADWOA ANYOWUO & 2 ORS [2005]DLSC2408

Date	2005-10-17
Suit No.	CIVIL MOTION NO. J7/31/2005
Citation No.	[2005]DLSC2408

MRS. WOOD J.S.C. (PRESIDING)

DR. TWUM J.S.C

DR. DATE-BAH J.S.C

PROF. OCRAN J.S.C

ANSAH J.S.C.

KWABLAH SENANU FOR THE DEFENDANT APPELLANT

FREMPONG BOADU FOR THE RESPONDENT.

[2005]DLSC2408
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >KWABENA ADDO<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>ADWOA ANYOWUO &amp; 2 ORS<o:p></o:p>[SUPREME
COURT]<o:p></o:p>CIVIL
MOTION NO. J7/31/2005<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: 17TH OCTOBER, 2005.<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>KWABLAH
SENANU FOR THE DEFENDANT APPELLANT<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">

FREMPONG
BOADU FOR THE RESPONDENT.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <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">

MRS.
WOOD, J.S.C. (PRESIDING), DR. TWUM, J.S.C., DR. DATE-BAH, J.S.C., PROF. OCRAN,
J.S.C, ANSAH, J.S.C.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>J U D G M E N T.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;DR. TWUM, J.S.C.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;This an appeal from the unanimous judgment of
the Court of Appeal dated 23rd July 1997. In this judgment I will refer to the
Respondent herein as “the Plaintiff” and the Appellants as “the Defendants”. I
hope this will make it easy to follow the chronology of the events that have
prompted this appeal.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;On 17th May 1989, the Plaintiff, (Kwabena
Addo) issued a writ of summons against the Defendants, (Madam Anyowuo and her
two daughters, Akosua Kesewa and Afua Serwah) claiming:<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;(a) A declaration of title and recovery
possession of House No. C325/15 Alajo.<o:p></o:p>(b)&nbsp; Damages for trespass<o:p></o:p>(c)
&nbsp;Perpetual injunction.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;The Defendants filed a Statement of Defence
and Counterclaim on 9th June 1989. In the counterclaim, they asked for: <o:p></o:p>&nbsp;<o:p></o:p>(a)&nbsp; A declaration that building currently with
House No. C325/15 Alajo, Accra, was the property of the late S.K. Opoku.<o:p></o:p>(b)
Recovery of possession of the said house.<o:p></o:p>(c)
That the Plaintiff accounts for the rents he has so far collected on the
premises from 1980 to date of judgment.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;The facts relied on by parties to establish
their respective cases were not complicated. The Plaintiff’s case was that S.K.
Opoku the deceased, was his uncle. He was a trader at Akuse in the Eastern
Region. He stayed with him at Akuse as a young man and worked in one of his
stores. After some time his uncle gifted one of his stores at Akuse to him. Not
long after that, his uncle decided to move from Akuse to Accra. The Plaintiff,
however, remained at Akuse and worked in his store. In 1968, the Plaintiff’s
said&nbsp; uncle invited him to Accra and
informed him that his church, the True Faith Church, had acquired land from the
Alajo chief which had been partitioned and was being allocated to members of
the church. The Plaintiff’s uncle told him he had wanted to pass it on to his
brother, Osei Kwaku but Osei declined the offer. A similar offer was made to
the deceased’s sister (the Plaintiff’s aunt), Amma Mansah but she also declined
to have it. Consequently, the deceased had decided to surrender this land to
the Plaintiff. This discussion, the Plaintiff claimed, was held in the presence
of Osei and Amma Mansah.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;The Plaintiff accepted the land in their
presence. The Plaintiff’s case was that he paid about ¢800.00 to his deceased
uncle to pay for the cost of the land and subsequently sent or gave various
sums to him to supervise the building of a house on the land for him. The uncle
supervised the construction of the “Boys Quarters” and the first floor of the
building.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;In or about 1979, the Plaintiff’s uncle, S.K.
Opoku, became unwell and decided to go back to his hometown, Obo, in the Kwahu
Traditional Area. At that time the building had not been completed but his
uncle was living on the first floor. The Plaintiff’s case that his deceased
uncle called him to Accra and told him of his decision to re-locate to Obo. He
suggested to the Plaintiff to approach an elder of the church, Opanin Joseph,
to supervise the erection of the remaining floors of the house for him. Later,
the Plaintiff himself came to live in Accra. At that time the second floor had
been completed and he settled in it. He took over the supervision from Opanin
Joseph. In due course, the building was completed. The Plaintiff’s uncle, S.K.
Opoku died in 1984. The Plaintiff continued to live in the house without let or
hindrance until 1989 when the first defendant (or one of her daughters)
approached him and begged that her mother be given one room in the house for
her use. The Plaintiff turned down the request so the Plaintiff’s uncle, Osei
Kwaku, was approached to intercede on her behalf. Still he refused her a room.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;The Defendants reported the Plaintiff to the
CDR alleging that he was occupying their father’s (or husband’s) house and had
refused to give to the first defendant one room to live in. By various threats
and stratagems the CDR, made an interim order (against the Plaintiff’s will)
whereby the first defendant was settled in one room in the house with the
excuse that there were vacant rooms in the house. It was on account of these
matters that he instituted the present action against the defendants.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;For the defendants, they claimed that the
building, the subject-matter of the dispute, belonged to S.K. Opoku, the
husband of the first defendant and the father of the second and third
defendants. They claimed that it was his self-acquired property. It was part of
their case that the deceased acquired&nbsp;
the land as was alleged by the Plaintiff but he kept it for himself and
funded and supervised the construction of the house in dispute from his own
resources. They said that it was when the deceased was going to his hometown
that he asked the Plaintiff to take care of the house for him. The Defendants’
case was that</main>