A Ghanaian single mother, Karen Baaba Sam, has filed an application at the General Jurisdiction High Court to have her former partner, Nana Kwadwo Adjei, committed for contempt of court.
The move follows allegations that Mr. Adjei forcefully retrieved their six-year-old daughter’s passport from the High Court registry in defiance of a binding court order requiring that the document be kept in custody and only released to either parent with prior notice to the other.
The motion, filed on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, by Ms. Sam’s lawyers, comes amid an ongoing and acrimonious custody battle between the estranged couple.
The court order in question was issued on March 24, 2025, and was intended to ensure that the child’s passport would remain in court custody unless both parents were informed in advance of any attempt to retrieve it.
Alleged breach of court custody protocol
In her sworn affidavit, Ms. Baaba Sam revealed that she had applied to the Family Tribunal on June 13, 2025, for an order to have the passport released to her and for further directions in the ongoing trial.
The motion was scheduled for hearing on July 3.
However, she stated that her lawyers were informed by the court registrar that on June 12—one day before her own application—Mr. Adjei had gone to the registry and forcibly removed the passport.
This action, she asserted, was in blatant contravention of the court’s March 24 order.
Ms. Sam further disclosed that on June 11, just a day prior to retrieving the passport, Mr. Adjei attempted to collect their daughter from school without authorization.
His efforts failed only because she had sent a letter to the school and had already picked up the child herself.
“To cover his own earlier violations,” Ms. Sam said in her affidavit, “the Respondent instituted contempt proceedings against me on June 23, 2025, arguing that the March 24 order remained in effect and that I should be sanctioned for collecting our daughter from school.”
She described this as an attempt to mislead the court, claiming Mr. Adjei deliberately omitted the fact that he had already broken the same order by removing the passport.
Ms. Sam further argued that her ex-partner’s conduct was, by his own admission, contemptuous and amounted to a direct affront to the authority of the court.
Pattern of disregard for legal orders
The affidavit emphasized that Mr. Adjei’s actions demonstrated a persistent disregard for the authority of the Family Tribunal and the legal processes guiding the custody of their daughter.
Ms.Sam contended that unless he is punished severely, he will continue his “flagrant disobedience.”
She urged the court to impose sanctions that would not only punish Mr. Adjei but also compel him to return the passport to court custody.
She maintained that such consequences are necessary to uphold the integrity of the judicial process.
History of abuse and legal conflict
The legal dispute is the latest chapter in a strained relationship that, according to Ms. Sam, has been marked by years of abuse and intimidation.
On January 20, 2025, she publicly detailed her experiences of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse by Mr. Adjei—a man she first met in 2016.
What began as a seemingly loving relationship quickly descended into violence and control.
By 2018, when she became pregnant, the abuse reportedly intensified.
Ms. Sam recalled that in December of that year, Mr. Adjei assaulted her while she was pregnant, after returning home drunk from a night out.
“I was more scared for my unborn child than for myself,” she recounted. She called a friend, Leeroy, who intervened, and Mr. Adjei later apologized, blaming the incident on alcohol.
Despite further reports of beatings—often resulting in visible injuries—Ms. Sam said no action was taken, even after her brother filed a complaint at the East Legon Police Station.
She alleged that Mr. Adjei bragged about his connections within the police force, which made it difficult for her to seek justice.
The final rupture came in April 2023, when Ms. Sam encountered Mr. Adjei at a restaurant with another woman, who publicly humiliated her while he looked on.
When she returned home, he allegedly beat her again—this time in front of their daughter and two visiting family friends from Germany, who were also assaulted when they tried to intervene. During the altercation, their daughter was also allegedly kicked by her father.
In December 2023, Ms. Sam officially ended the relationship.
Mr. Adjei responded with threats and demands for the return of gifts, including their daughter’s school transport vehicle. She moved out in February 2024.
Tragically, on her very first night in her new home, Ms. Sam was robbed at gunpoint.
She found the timing suspicious, especially since the only item left untouched was a necklace Mr. Adjei later demanded she return.
This led authorities to suspect the robbery may have been orchestrated by someone close to her, prompting them to assign her police protection.
A legal battle with high stakes
As the contempt application moves through the courts, it has become yet another flashpoint in a custody struggle that has already exposed allegations of domestic violence, abuse of legal process, and attempts to manipulate the judicial system.
For Ms. Sam, the motion is not just about a passport, but a broader fight for accountability and the safety of her child.
