A TEMA High Court has granted an order for substituted service of the suit filed by the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, on Valentina Nana Agyeiwaa, aka Afia Schwarzenegger.
Wontumi had sued Afia for defamation for claiming in a viral video that she had sexual intercourse with him and he farted when he reached orgasm.
He is seeking among others, damages of GH¢2 million against her for defaming him on social media, as well as costs including legal fees.
His lawyer, Maurice Ampaw, had filed an application for substituted service of the suit on Afia Schwarzenegger as attempts to serve her in person failed.
The court, presided over by Justice Emmanuel Ankamah, ordered the plaintiff to serve the defendant by posting copies of the processes on the Tema High Court’s notice board, any adult member of the defendant’s family as well as one publication in the Daily Graphic newspaper.
The order is to take effect eight days after the posting at the various places as ordered by the court.
Afia Schwarzenegger on June 4, 2022, in a video which went viral on various social media platforms claimed that she had had sexual intercourse with Chairman Wontumi in the past.
The video, which was recorded in the Twi language, was translated by lawyer for the plaintiff to mean “when I have sex with him and he reaches orgasm, he flatulates. Didn’t he tell you? He flatulates like this: tui-tui-tui.”
Wontumi, in his writ, avers that the defamatory statement by Afia is an insinuation that he committed adultery, he is a womaniser and engages in casual sex with women.
“The plaintiff avers that the defamatory statement made by the defendant about the plaintiff are palpable lies made without any justification and is/was actuated by the defendant’s malice and ill-will towards the plaintiff,” the suits avers.
The suit further points out that Afia Schwarzenegger made the defamatory statement with the sole purpose of creating public disaffection for Wontumi and exposing him to public ridicule, hatred and contempt.
“The plaintiff has really suffered great damage to his character and reputation by being portrayed as a person who is a womanizer and engages in casual sex with impunity,” it added.
It is, therefore, seeking the court to order her to use the same medium as well as others to retract and apologise for the defamatory claims against him.
He is also seeking a perpetual injunction on Afia Schwarzenegger, her servants, agents, allies and anybody taking instructions from her from further making the derogatory statements against him.
Afia Schwarzenegger, last Friday morning responded to the writ on Instagram by posting: “A wise man once said and I quote ‘ANY IDIOT CAN GO TO COURT!’.”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak