SETH SEADEY vs. MRS. GERTRUDE ADJATEY ADDY [2018]DLCA4814

Date	2018-03-27
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEAL NO: H1/07/2018
Citation No.	[2018]DLCA4814

K. A. ACQUAYE JA (PRESIDING)

S. K. GYAN JA

M. M. AGYEMANG (MRS.) JA

MR. RAPHAEL B. K. ABOAGYE FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLANT.

MRS. ADWOA AMUGI OTENG MENSAH FOR PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT.

[2018]DLCA4814
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >SETH SEADEY <o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANT/APPELLANT)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>MRS. GERTRUDE ADJATEY ADDY <o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT)<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION), KOFORIDUA]<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: H1/07/2018&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: 27TH MARCH,
2018<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>MR. RAPHAEL B. K. ABOAGYE
FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLANT.<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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MRS.
ADWOA AMUGI OTENG MENSAH FOR PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT.<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;
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K.
A. ACQUAYE JA (PRESIDING), S. K. GYAN JA, M. M. AGYEMANG (MRS.) JA<o:p></o:p>

</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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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:center;line-height:115%;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>AGYEMANG
JA:<o:p></o:p>In this appeal against&nbsp; the judgment of the High Court Koforidua, delivered
on the 31st of October 2014, the &nbsp;defendant/appellant (hereafter referred to
alternately as the defendant, or the appellant) seeks a setting aside of the
judgment of that court.<o:p></o:p>The matters that have given rise to the appeal are
set out hereafter. <o:p></o:p>The plaintiff/respondent (referred to as the
plaintiff, or the respondent) brought suit at the court below for herself and for
her siblings, seeking inter alia, a declaration
of title to land situate at Srodae, Koforidua, and bounded on all sides by the
property of Kofi Adjatey, Kofi Kumah, Defendant’s land and the Koforidua
Huhunya Road; recovery of possession, and damages for trespass.<o:p></o:p>It was the case of the plaintiff that her father
who died in 1973 was in his lifetime, a transport owner. She alleged that in
1943, her father acquired a parcel of land with building thereon, from one
Kwame Adjaye who conveyed same to the plaintiff’s father with the consent of
the Omanhen of New Juaben. It was her evidence that in 1954, her father put up
a building on a portion of the land. She recounted that part of the land
acquired by her father was later earmarked for a proposed motor road and that
the said plan having been abandoned by the government, the land reverted to her
father. She alleged that while that portion of the land, facing the
Koforidua-Huhunya Road remained earmarked, her father put up a temporary
structure, a shed which he used as a car lot for his three commercial trucks,
and a store to keep his spare parts in. The plaintiff further alleged that the defendant’s
father who was a close friend of her father, and who had no property in Koforidua,
was given some land by her father to build on. Their two plots of land, contiguous
to each other, were separated by the stretch of land which had been the
proposed motor road. <o:p></o:p>According to the plaintiff, her father’s use of the
land (which had been the proposed road), as a parking lot never changed, and he
continued to use it as such until his death in 1973. After his death, the
plaintiff’s siblings remained on the land, carrying on various commercial
activities, including selling from a store and kiosks, until the shed was
demolished. It was the plaintiff’s case (which was not challenged in
cross-examination), that it was the defendant who reportedly caused the
demolition. The defendant then commenced the construction of a fence wall which
fairly blocked the entrance to the plaintiff’s property. It was alleged that the
Town Planning office made him to stop the construction. The defendant also
allegedly sold off part of the disputed land, encroaching upon the plaintiff’s
father’s property. The plaintiff alleged that all this while, records at both
the Lands Commission and the Town and Country Planning offices in Koforidua, confirmed
her father’s ownership of the land in dispute. <o:p></o:p>It was the case of the defendant that his father,
one Lawrence Kwaku Seadey (known simply as Kwaku Seadey), purchased land from
one Opanin Adu for £48 the equivalent of c115.20 in 1965, and that the said
land, si</main>