THOMAS TATA ATANLEY KOFIGAH AND ANOTHER vs. SOPHIA OBUOBI AND 3 OTHERS [2018]DLCA4692

Date	2018-02-22
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEAL NO. H1/169/2016
Citation No.	[2018]DLCA4692

F.G. KORBIEH J.A. (PRESIDING)

BARBARA ACKAH-YENSU (MISS) J.A.

I.O. TANKO AMADU J.A.

PATRICK JUSTICE ENNIN FOR THE APPELLANTS

S. K. AMOAH FOR THE RESPONDENTS

[2018]DLCA4692
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >THOMAS TATA ATANLEY KOFIGAH AND
ANOTHER<o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFFS/APPELLANTS)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>SOPHIA OBUOBI AND 3 OTHERS<o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANTS/RESPONDENTS)<o:p></o:p>[COURT OF
APPEAL, ACCRA]<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. H1/169/2016&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:
22ND FEBRUARY, 2018<o:p></o:p>

S. K.
AMOAH FOR THE RESPONDENTS<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:<o:p></o:p>F.G.
KORBIEH J.A. (PRESIDING), BARBARA ACKAH-YENSU (MISS) J.A., I.O. TANKO AMADU
J.A.&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-top:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
border-left:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;border-right:none;
padding:1.0pt 0in 1.0pt 0in">

<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%;
border:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0in 1.0pt 0in">JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>F.G. KORBIEH, J.A.<o:p></o:p>In order
to truly understand this appeal, one needs to recall the brief facts of the
case leading to the appeal. One Thomas Komlah Atanley Kofigah alias Komlah
Atanley Kofigah (hereinafter referred to as the deceased), a Togolese national,
who was resident in Ghana, was a very successful business man who died leaving
behind two wives and about twenty-one children. He died on the 5/9/2009 at the
Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. On the 2/2/2010 an official of the High Court,
Accra read what purported to be the last will and testament of the deceased
dated 14/11/2007 which had allegedly been deposited at the registry of the
court on the 7/10/2009. In the said will the deceased had nominated the
defendants/respondents herein as executors of the will and who had accordingly
applied for the will to be admitted to probate. The plaintiffs/appellants, who
are children of the deceased and also beneficiaries under the will, had
caveated, saying that the document attached to the application for the probate
was a forgery and therefore not the will of the deceased. In the event, the motions
court ordered the caveators to issue a writ so that a full trial could take
place in accordance with the rules of court. This they did and asked for the
following two reliefs in a writ that was subsequently amended twice:<o:p></o:p>i.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
A declaration that the purported last will and
testament of Thomas Komlah Atanley Kofigah alias Komlah Atanley Kofigah
executed on the 14th November, 2007 and which was deposited at the
registry of the High Court, Accra on October 7, 2009 after his death by the 1st
and 2nd defendants is invalid.<o:p></o:p>ii.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
An order refusing the grant of probate to the 1st,
2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants, the within-named
executors of the purported last will and testament of the late Thomas Komlah
Atanley Kofigah alias Komlah Atanley Kofigah. <o:p></o:p>In the
statement of claim accompanying the writ of summons, the plaintiffs/appellants
averred, among other things, that the will alleged to have been deposited at
the registry of the High Court was fraudulent and the signature on it had been
forged. They further averred that the will had interlineations, alterations,
erasures, and/or obliterations which had not been executed in accordance with
the Wills Act, 1971 (Act 360) thus making it invalid. As would be expected, the
defendants/respondents denied all of these averments in their amended
statements of defense. The case thus proceeded to trial on the basis of the respective
processes filed by the parties. &nbsp;<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>During
the trial the 1st plaintiff testified for himself. His main
contention was that after the will had been read, he and the 2nd
plaintiff and others procured a copy of the will and realized to their chagrin
that there were many defects in the documents. He said they knew that their
father had many lawyers in his life time and yet the document seemed to have
been prepared by a wayside typist. He also said the signature on the document
was not that of his father since he knew his father’s signature very well as he
had lived and worked with his father for many years. He tendered in evidence samples
of his father’s signature as exhibits D, D1 and D2, E and E2 and F and F1 which
he said differed from the signatures on the documents read at the High Court
and attached to the application for grant of probate respectively. He was of
the firm belief that the signatures on those two documents were forged and the
will should therefore be declared invalid and the application for probate
declined. The 2nd plaintiff also testified and corroborated the
testimony of the 1st plaintiff regarding the forged signatures. She
tendered in evidence exhibits G and G1. <o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The 1st
defendant testified for herself and for the 2nd defendant. Her
evidence was that after the demise of the deceased who was her husband, she
traced his will to one of his numerous lawyers, Lawyer Somtim Tobigah and that
the will was only deposited at the registry of the High Court on the 7/10/2009 af</main>