AMPIAH J.: In this action, the plaintiff claims from the defendant general damages for defamation. The defendant resists the claim and in turn counterclaims against the plaintiff for damages for unlawful sexual intercourse with his wife.
The plaintiff is an assistant director of the Ghana Education Service and the defendant is a general contractor. Both are stationed at Sunyani. The wife of the defendant, Miss Ackerson, around whom the case pivots is the headmistress of the Roman Catholic School, Sunyani. Both the plaintiff and the defendant belong to the Odd-fellows Lodge, a secret society, Miss Mary Ackerson belongs to the female section of this society. Until the dissolution of their marriage in or about June 1977 the defendant and Miss Mary Ackerson lived together as man and wife.
According to the plaintiff, in October 1977 or thereabout, the defendant falsely and maliciously published in a letter to Mr. G. R. Bray, the Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service, Sunyani, a st…