A Circuit Court in Accra has ordered a plaintiff, Vincent Kontoh – a businessman to pay a compensation of GH¢200,000 to a defendant, Ernestina Torgbor, for failing to marry her as promised.
That case which started before the court as a suit to eject the defendant from a 2-storey apartment by Mr. Kontoh, resulted in a counter-suit by the defendant who alleged among others, that the plaintiff had failed to honour his promise to marry her despite being with him for more than a decade.
By the time the case ended, Mr. Kontoh lost full claim to the building which he wanted sole ownership of and was also ordered to pay the woman who was his lover and foreman during the construction of the building.
The court, presided over by Justice Sedinam Awo Kwadam, a Justice of the High Court sitting with additional responsibility as a Circuit Court judge, dismissed the plaintiff’s reliefs and granted the counterclaim.
Mr. Kontoh had sued Madam Torgor, seeking an order of the court to eject her from a two-bedroom apartment within a six-unit property he owned at East Legon.
The defendant in her defence filed a counterclaim and averred that the businessman had promised her marriage over the period of their amorous relationship.
She further claimed that in furtherance of that promise, she had to leave her residence at Dansoman to fully commit to the relation.
Madam Torgbor further told the court that Mr. Kontoh was listed as an in-law during her father’s funeral, contributed financially to the said funeral as well as wrote a tribute in honour of the deceased.
Finally, she averred that the plaintiff gave her a promise ring and appointed her to act as a foreman for the construction of his six-unit house which lasted for about four years.
She, therefore, sought the court to award her damages of $40,000 for breach of promise to marry, and a Toyota RAV4 which the plaintiff had purchased for her.
The court at the end of the trial established that the six-unit property was not completed when the relationship began and that the woman actively supervised and managed the construction of the said property while the plaintiff, who was not resident in Ghana, provided the funds for the project.
The defendant was subsequently asked to move into one of the two-bedroom units in 2017 and the plaintiff later joined her upon his return to Ghana.
Justice Kwadam in her judgment held that the defendant has a beneficial interest in the two-bedroom apartment at East Legon, Accra, currently occupied by her, said interest arising by way of a constructive trust.
She, therefore, ordered the parties to take immediate steps to regularise Madam Torgbor’s interest in the property. The woman is to continue staying in the apartment.
On the issue of breach of promise to marry, the court found that there was indeed a promise to marry after holding that the ring given to the woman by the man was to ward off other suitors.
The court held that the man’s conduct in 2024 which terminated the 11-year relationship amounted to breach of promise.
The court also observed that both parties are over 60 years old and the woman’s chances of finding another man to marry her are slim.
Justice Kwadam, therefore, ordered the man to pay her general damages of GH¢50,000 and another GH¢150,000 as compensation.
The man was further ordered to pay an additional GH¢20,000 as cost to the woman.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak