Farmer Takes Nun To Court

A farmer at Seikwa, in the Brong Ahafo Region has filed a suit at a Kumasi High Court against a Catholic nun, claiming damages for her alleged failure to honour a contract of organising a Christian pilgrimage for him to France and Italy last year.

The plaintiff, Mr Alexander Kwaku Adjei, is also asking the court to order the defendant, Regina Mate Korley, to pay an amount of $2,500 and ?400,000 being the full cost of the abortive trip.He is also urging the court to order the defendant to pay interest on the cost of trip paid.

A statement of claim accompanying the suit said the defendant, who is a professed Catholic sister, caused an advertisement to be published in the Catholic Standard on Sunday, May 15, 2003, claiming that she was organising a Christian pilgrimage for Christians desirous of visiting religious and sacred sites and places in France and Italy in July 2003.

The statement said the plaintiff, who is also a member of the Catholic Church, responded to the publication and contacted the defendant in Kumasi for details of the advertisement and the defendant demanded $2,500 and ?400,000 as full cost of the trip.

It said the plaintiff accepted the offer and in the company of a witness, paid the full cost required on July 4, 2003, and also deposited his passport to enable the defendant process the papers for the trip.

The statement said after collecting the money and the passport, the defendant gave some document to the plaintiff and directed him to fill and after filling the document as required by the defendant, he handed them over to her.

It said the defendant then assured the plaintiff that the trip would take place on July 25, 2003, but when she failed to provide the necessary documents for the trip, she assured him that it would definitely take place in September 2003.

It said when she again failed to honour her promise in September, she gave October 16, 2004 as the new date for the trip and summoned him from Seikwa to Kumasi at short notice, and in the company of other potential pilgrims, asked him to charter a bus to Accra for an interview at the French Embassy.

It said notwithstanding the fact that the defendant and her agent took the pilgrims to the vicinity of the French Embassy in Accra on two occasions, they were not allowed to enter the premises for the said interview.

It said they were, however, told that the visas for the trip had been approved but were not shown to them. It said since the defendant assured the plaintiff that the trip would take place on October 16 and had already given assurance that the visa had been approved, the plaintiff prepared for the journey, travelled from Seikwa to Kumasi, where he met other pilgrims who travelled together to Accra.

It said around midnight on October 13, 2003, the defendant informed them for the first time that she could not succeed in getting the pilgrimage through and promised to refund every amount paid.

It said in spite of several demands by the plaintiff to secure his money from the defendant, she refused stressing that the locking up of the money and passport had deprived him of the opportunity to make other arrangements to travel or transact any business.This, the statement said, had caused the plaintiff great financial and other losses.