•Eugene Arhin and his wife Gloria Assan have divorced
•The wife was granted custody of their children
•Eugene Arhin is to pay a lump some of GH¢100,000 to his ex-wife
GhanaWeb has obtained the full ruling by the Divorce and Matrimonial Division of the Accra High Court on the divorce case involving Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin and his now ex-wife Gloria Assan.
The court presided by Justice Cecilia Don Chebe Agbeyey, granted the divorce wish of Gloria Assan on the ground that the union was irreparable and it will be in the interest of the parties to go their separate ways.
The court also rejected adultery claims by Gloria Assan against Eugene Arhin on the ground that Gloria Assan failed to provide any evidence to substantiate her claims.
In her ruling, Justice Cecilia Don-Chebe Agbevey held that:
“A person who makes an averment or assertion, which is denied by his opponent has the burden to establish that his averment or assertion is true.
“And, he does not discharge this burden unless he leads admissible and credible evidence from which the fact or facts he asserts can properly and safely be inferred. The nature of each averment or assertion determines the degree and nature of that burden.”
She noted further that “Direct evidence of adultery is rare. In nearly every case, the fact of adultery is inferred from the circumstances which by fair and necessary inference lead to that conclusion.
“There must be proof of disposition and opportunity for committing adultery but the conjunction of strong inclination with evidence of opportunity will not lead to an irrefutable presumption that adultery has been committed. Likewise, the Court was not bound to infer adultery from the evidence of opportunity alone.”
She, therefore, noted that “the petitioner (Gloria) merely repeated her pleadings, and thereby failed woefully to adduce evidence of circumstances that would have enabled the Court to make the necessary inference to the effect that the Respondent (Eugene Arhin) committed adultery.
“Thus, I am unable to find that the Respondent (Eugene Arhin) committed adultery,” the court said.
The court granted the full property request by Gloria Assan but awarded GH¢100,000 lump sum instead of the million cedis she requested.
Read the ruling below
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
