Jihad Chaaban (middle)
A third prosecution witness in the assault case brought against Jihad Chaaban, the Abelemkpe Marwako Branch manager, testified yesterday, tightening the noose around the neck of the accused person.
Yaw Asiedu, a security man, told Abeka District Court in Accra that he saw Evelyn Boakye after her face had been dipped into blended pepper, adding that he was not at the scene of the incident.
According to the witness, who is a security guard at the eatery, he was at his duty post when he saw Evelyn coming from the kitchen crying.
Evidence
Speaking in Twi, he said that he initially thought that some of the food the complainant was cooking had splashed on her face.
Yaw said he took the complainant by the hand and ushered her to a place to wash her face after she narrated her ordeal at the hands of Jihad to him.
The witness, among others, told the court, presided over by Ms Victoria Ghansah, that owing to the incident, he closed at 9pm instead of his usual 6pm and took the victim home.
During cross-examination, Augustine Asafo-Adjei, lawyer for Jihad, was emphatic the witness was engaged in ‘hear say evidence,’ a claim Yaw denied.
He admitted that he did not see Jihad dipping the face of Evelyn into the said pepper neither did he witness any confrontation between them, adding that his evidence was based on the pepper he saw on the face of the complainant.
Yaw argued that the ingredients in the blender were not unblended onions as Augustine wanted the court to believe, indicating that he was being truthful to the court.
Yaw or Daniel?
Augustine said one Daniel, a security guard, took Evelyn home on the day of the incident and not the witness in the box.
But Yaw claimed that he is the same Daniel, who took the victim home, stressing that “it’s me; I am Daniel Yaw Asiedu.”
The defence lawyer, as a result, urged the court to compel the witness to furnish the court with an identity card to ascertain the real name of the person in the box.
In a rebuttal Francis Xavier Sosu, who represented Evelyn, said it was not the duty of the prosecution to do the case for the defence team.
He said that the defence was supposed to put any contrary name it knew to the witness.
Sitting continues on April 6.
Charges
Jihad, 26, is reported to have dipped the head of Evelyn into blended pepper on February 26, 2017.
According to the prosecution, the accused offensively conducted himself when he angrily called the complainant a ‘prostitute’.
Jihad is facing an additional charge of intentionally and unlawfully causing harm to Evelyn.
Jihad, a Lebanese supervisor at Marwako Restaurant, was put before the court for allegedly manhandling a female waitress of the restaurant.
The accused, who has pleaded not guilty, is a brother–in-law of the owner of Marwako Restaurant at the Abelemkpe Branch.
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson