A Kumasi High Court has admitted into evidence a video clip in which the late highlife musician Daddy Lumba appeared to discuss who performed the in-law rites at his late mother’s funeral.
Counsel for Akosua Serwaa Fosuh, who claims to be the legal spouse of the late musician born Charles Kwadwo Fosuh, fiercely objected to the admission of the document, prompting heated debate in court on Monday, November 17.
The document, a short video clip of the late Daddy Lumba detailing how his first love, Theresah Abresseh of blessed memory, contributed to his mother’s funeral, was being tendered in by lawyers of Abusuapanin Kofi Owusu, the first defendant in the case.
This was after the evidence, labelled DL5, had been captured by the court during the Case Management Conference.
Akosua Serwaa Fosuh is in court seeking the court’s order to make her the only surviving wife and also the sole performer of the widowhood rite at the late musician’s funeral.
Counsel for Abusuapanin Owusu, head of Daddy Lumba’s extended family, Dominic Kwadwo Osei, in his cross-examination of the lawful attorney of Akosua Serwaa Fosuh, prayed with the court, presided over by Justice Dorinda Smith Arthur, to first identify the document.
But this was objected to by lawyer William Kusi, who insisted the rules of the court do not tender evidence when the plaintiff does not know the source or who authored it.
He argued that the fact that the plaintiff identifies the person in the video does not give her the capacity to respond to the document, adding that it will amount to injustice if admitted.
This follows an invitation by Counsel of the first defendant, Dominic Kwadwo Owusu, inviting Akosua Serwaa Fosuh’s attorney, Georgina Osei Bonsu, to identify the musician in the video in which the latter appeared to give details on how Theresah Abebresse performed in-law rites (Nseyie) at his late mother, Amma Saah’s funeral.
But the trial judge, Dorinda Smith Arthur, overruled and admitted the short video clip as evidence, marking a significant turnaround in the case.
However, when cross-examination resumed, Akosua Serwaa Fosuh’s legal attorney insisted the video had been altered since accounts of the plaintiff and that of the late musician’s family did not indicate the presence of Theresah Abebresse for such rites.
She told the court she has evidence in the form of pictures to prove to the court that Akosua Serwaa Fosuh performed the ‘Nseyie’.
This got Counsel for 1st Defendant on his feet to put it to Madam Osei Bonsu that the refusal of the plaintiff to perform in-law rites at the late Daddy Lumba’s mother’s funeral was the genesis of the separation between the former and the highlife musician.
He also suggested that emotional pain endured by the late musician explained why he did not attend Akosua Serwaa Fosuh’s mother’s funeral in January 2018.
This suggestion the attorney disagrees with.
The lawyer for first defendant had earlier raised objections about the marriage certificate tendered as evidence by Akosua Serwaa Fosuh.
He argued that since Akosua Serwaa Fosuh, before her marriage to Daddy Lumba, bore Akosua Serwaa Schindler, different from her original name at birth, the marriage certificate belonged to another person.
Meanwhile, lawyers for Priscilla Ofori, also known as Odo Broni, sought to understand the relationship between the attorney and the Fosuhs.
The attorney, in response, detailed how she got to know the late Daddy Lumba in the USA during the musician’s performance at a musical concert in 2003.
Asked by defence counsel if she was not present when the duo got married in 1991 at Bomso and in 2004 during the couple’s civil marriage ceremony in Germany, she answered in the affirmative.
The attorney detailed how she and her children travelled to Germany to spend time with the Fosuh’s at least on three occasions.
The court is expected to give rule on the case on November 25, 2025.
Meanwhile, cross-examination continues on Tuesday, November 18, after seven hours of court proceedings, as the daily hearing of the case continues.
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