FULL TEXT: Ruling by Accra High Court on Odartey Lamptey’s divorce case with Gloria Appiah

•Odartey Lamptey was granted ownership of his East Legon house

•The court also accepted claims that he assaulted his wife

•The court noted that the marriage could not be repaired

On July 16, the Accra High Court presided over by Justice Cecilia Don-Chebe threw out an appeal by Gloria Appiah, the ex-wife of the former Ghana international Nii Odartey Lamptey.

In a 14-page ruling sighted GhanaWeb, the court dismissed a substantive appeal by Gloria Appiah seeking ownership of Odartey Lamptey’s seven-bedroom house at East Legon in Accra.

Gloria Appiah in her suit rehashed her earlier claims of assault and adultery which were all rejected in the first ruling.

Just like the earlier verdicts, Justice Cecilia Don-Chebe rejected the allegations of adultery but accepted that the scars on Appiah which Lamptey admitted were indications of assault.

“On the totality of the evidence and the conduct of the parties, I am satisfied that the marriage has broken down beyond reconciliation. I will grant the order for the dissolution of the parties’ marriage celebrated under the Marriage Ordinance (Cap 127) at the Office of the Principal Registrar of Marriages, Accra on the 28th of May 1994 not only on grounds of adultery of the petitioner for which the respondent finds it intolerable to live with the petitioner but also that there has been an assault and threats of assault and an acrimonious atmosphere surrounding the matrimonial home such that it will be unreasonable to expect the petitioner to live with the respondent.

“Even though I have found exhibit ‘C’ coming from the Police as unreliable, I accept the petitioner’s evidence of assault committed on her by the respondent. In the respondent’s own evidence he admitted that there were scars arising out of aggression but the explanation he gave to the court was that the scars are marks from bleaching and self-inflicted injuries of the petitioner. It is difficult for me to accept the explanation that bleaching caused the scars and that the petitioner inflicted damage to her own skin which she has been bleaching.

“I did not lose sight also of the allegation by the petitioner that the respondent has committed adultery with one Ruweida and a Claire Ameyaw as well as other women but I found it in the circumstances of this case not safe to rely only on a mere allegation not backed by any other corroborative evidence in view of the respondent’s denial of the allegations.”

The court also rejected pleas by Odartey Lamptey for it to grant all properties to him on the basis that the properties acquired during marriage ought to be shared equally in the case of separation.

It granted the wife authority of the kids but ruled that Odartey Lamptey could not be made to pay extra money to the wife for the children as he discharged his fatherly duties until the DNA test.

On the substantive case, the court said, “I settle the matrimonial home, H/No 18 Dadekotopon Road, Mempeasem, Accra on the respondent in addition to the Toyota Tundra with registration number, G –708313 and the BMW 3 series with registration number, GR 5322 T.”