THERESA AFUA FREMAH vs. DANIEL AKWASI AMANKWAH AND ANOTHER [2011]DLCA3092

Date	2011-04-01
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEAL NO. H1/13/2011
Citation No.	[2011]DLCA3092

MARIAMA OWUSU (MISS) J.A. (PRESIDING)

F.G. KORBIEH J.A.

IRENE C. DANQUAH (MS.) J.A.

[2011]DLCA3092
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >THERESA AFUA FREMAH<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>DANIEL AKWASI AMANKWAH
AND ANOTHER<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;[COURT OF APPEAL, KUMASI]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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CIVIL
APPEAL NO. H1/13/2011&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;&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;&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; &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;DATE: 1ST
APRIL, 2011<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&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;&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><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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JUDGEMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>F.G. KORBIEH, J.A.&nbsp;&nbsp;
<o:p></o:p>This appeal emanates from the Circuit
Court, Kumasi and is against the judgment of His Honour, Mr. Adjei-Frimpong. I
will begin by recounting the brief facts of the case leading to the appeal. The
plaintiff/appellant (hereinafter only referred to as the appellant) is the
mother of the 1st defendant/respondent (hereinafter only referred to
as the 1st respondent). The 1st respondent was or is the
husband of the 2nd defendant/respondent (hereinafter only referred
to as the 2nd respondent) with whom he has two daughters. The
appellant took out a writ of summons, claiming against the respondents three
reliefs which were:<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
1. A declaration of title to plots nos. 1Block C and 4 Block C, Addae
Street, situate, lying and being at Oheneba Achiaa Panin Stool lands, Apatrapa,
Kumasi;<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
2. Recovery of possession; and <o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
3. Perpetual injunction restraining the defendants and all persons
claiming title through them from interfering with the plaintiff’s said
properties.<o:p></o:p>In stating her case, the appellant
averred as follows, among others: that she acquired the two plots on the
28/9/1994&nbsp; and the 7/2/1995 respectively
from the Oheneba Achiaa Stool Land secretariat; that she put up a building up
to habitable level on the first plot; that at that stage the 2nd
respondent approached one Charles Adusei Yankyera, a friend of the 1st
respondent to plead with the appellant to allow her (the 2nd
respondent) and her two children stay in the house; that the said Charles
Adusei Yankyera installed the 2nd respondent and her children in the
appellant’s house; that even though the consent and/or authorization of the
appellant was not sought, she nonetheless allowed the 2nd respondent
and her children to remain in the house; that it had come to the notice of the
appellant that the respondents were fraudulently laying claim to the house by
preparing a fictitious site plan of the properties and using the names of their
two children on them as owners of the properties; that the respondents had no
defence to the action. The 1st respondent, in a statement of
defence, conceded that the property in dispute was indeed acquired by the
appellant and that he had merely procured the site plan in the name of his two
daughters because he had wanted to send the two girls to Italy and only wanted
the document to obtain a stay/residence permit for them in Italy and that the
document had no legal effect in Ghana. The 2nd respondent however
seriously challenged the appellant’s claim to the disputed property. She
contended that she and the 1st respondent had jointly acquired the
property in dispute and decided to use their daughters’ names on the documents
because the 1st respondent intended that the ownership of the
property would reside in the children. She averred further that subsequently
the 1st respondent had had a change of mind, forcibly taken away the
original documents with the children’s names on them and forged new documents,
this time with the name of his mother (the appellant) on them so as to deprive
her and the children of the ownership of the house; that she had even moved
into the house when it was still uncompleted against her will due to pressure
brought to bear on her by the 1st respondent through not just his
friends but also a cassette tape recording. She then counter-claimed for the
following reliefs:<o:p></o:p>