WILLIAM ANUM OKLEY VS. EMMANUEL ASSINU AND IN THE MATTER OF MOTION ON NOTICE FOR COMMITTAL FOR CONTEMPT THE REPUBLIC vs. EMMANUEL ASSINU Exparte: WILLIAM OKLEY ANUM [2020]DLHC10137

WILLIAM ANUM OKLEY VS. EMMANUEL ASSINU AND IN THE MATTER OF MOTION ON NOTICE... [2020]DLHC10137

Date	2020-05-11
Suit No.	SUIT NO. CR/113/2018
Citation No.	[2020]DLHC10137

JUSTICE GEORGE BUADI J

SAM CRABBE FOR THE APPLICANT

GODWIN DZOKOTO FOR THE RESPONDENT

[2020]DLHC10137
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >WILLIAM ANUM OKLEY<o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFF)<o:p></o:p>VS.<o:p></o:p>EMMANUEL ASSINU<o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANT)<o:p></o:p>AND<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;IN THE MATTER OF MOTION ON NOTICE FOR
COMMITTAL FOR CONTEMPT<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;THE REPUBLIC<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>EMMANUEL ASSINU<o:p></o:p>(RESPONDENT)<o:p></o:p>Exparte:
WILLIAM OKLEY ANUM<o:p></o:p>(APPLICANT)<o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT,
ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;">

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>SAM CRABBE FOR THE
APPLICANT<o:p></o:p><div style="border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify;line-height:115%;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">GODWIN
DZOKOTO FOR THE RESPONDENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:<o:p></o:p>JUSTICE GEORGE
BUADI, J<o:p></o:p><div style="border-top-width: 1.5pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-left: none; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-right: none; padding: 1pt 0cm;">

<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
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:0cm;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">RULING<o:p></o:p>

</div>&nbsp;1.0&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Background<o:p></o:p>1.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ruling in this matter/application was
scheduled for delivery on 30 March 2020. It could not be delivered. The parties
and the lawyers failed to attend court. This is due to the restrictive order
that the President of the Republic issued as part of measures in addressing the
Coronavirus pandemic. The executive order, subject to a few exemptions,
affected and restricted the movement of persons and residents within the Greater
Accra metropolis, certainly including the parties and their lawyers in the
matter who as a result did not turn up in court, though the court was ready.<a href="file:///C:/Users/aggie/Desktop/2020-21/Criminal/Rep%20v%20Emmanuel%20Assinu%20-%20Contempt%20(2021_01_25%2010_26_20%20UTC).docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title="">[1]</a>
Despite the absence of the parties and their lawyers, the lawyers kept contact
with the court clerks and agreed with the clerk to reschedule delivery of the
judgment to today 11 May 2020 <o:p></o:p>&nbsp;1.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By Order 50 Rule 1 of the Rules of Court<a href="file:///C:/Users/aggie/Desktop/2020-21/Criminal/Rep%20v%20Emmanuel%20Assinu%20-%20Contempt%20(2021_01_25%2010_26_20%20UTC).docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title="">[2]</a>,
and pursuant to an application that was filed on 21 February 2018, the
applicant seeks an order of the court “to convict and sentence the Respondent herein
to prison for contempt … and to order the Respondent to purge himself of the
contempt”. The application is grounded on an accompanying affidavit, and later
by a supplementary affidavit that was filed on 17 April 2018 in apparent
response to the respondent’s affidavit in opposition that denied the charge.
The affidavits in support, sworn to personally by the applicant make
depositions to the background antecedents of the action, and thus the facts
grounding the charge. Ostensibly as an answer to the respondent’s denial of the
claim that he was working on the land, the applicant deposed to the
supplementary affidavit by which he attached a police statement Exhibit E on
the arrest of persons suspected to have been engaged by the respondent to work
on the land in dispute within the material time of the action.<o:p></o:p>