Queenie Akuffo
Prosecutors in the case in which 26-year-old Queenie Akuffo is standing trial for sexually assaulting her co-tenant with a vibrator appear to be in limbo because a prosecution witness has allegedly apologized to the accused for testifying in the case.
According to Andrew Vortia, lawyer for the accused, the defence would tender a text message the prosecution witness- Stephen Nana Appiah Kubi, 14, sent to Queenie for testifying against her.
The Accra Domestic Violence and Gender Based Court, presided over by Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku adjourned the case until January 6, 2017 to enable the lawyer do so.
Although the court permitted the defence to tender the text message at the next sitting, it is unclear what value the court would put on it.
Flashback
The third prosecution witness Appiah Kubi told the court on May 22, 2016 that noise emanating from the room compelled him to peep through the window of Queenie where he saw the accused lying on top of the 22-year-old Janet Amankwah on the bed.
According to him, he saw an object being inserted into the vagina of the victim but could not tell what it was, adding that he went to call one Maame Lizzy, a younger sister of the victim to come and witness what he termed the “action.”
He said that he could not tell who was moaning in the room of the accused on that fateful day.
Led in evidence by Detective Inspector Judith B. Asante, the court further heard that later Queenie asked Maame Lizzy to bring a mop into her room to clean something on the floor but the sister said she was afraid.
Appiah Kubi, among others, noted that prior to the incident, he saw Queenie persuading Janet to consume the drinks which reportedly dazed her.
Defence Witness
Meanwhile, the sole witness for Queenie, Dorcas Manubea Atiemo, a cleaner at the Ministry of Information, has mounted a spirited defence of the accused.
Under cross-examination, she told the court that she went to the house of the accused at about 6:30pm and met the victim there.
Dorcas claimed Queenie was drinking some drinks she had fetched from her fridge, adding that the other people were cooking.
According to her, at the time of leaving her sister’s residence, they were all in Queenie’s hall and not the bedroom.
The Information Ministry cleaner was emphatic that she did not witness any incident in the bed room of the accused.
Facts
Queenie allegedly committed the act at about 6pm on January 25 this year at Ablekuma in Accra where both of them reside.
According to the prosecution, Queenie asked other witnesses to leave and she locked her bedroom but a 13-year-old witness went to peep through the window of the accused person and saw her (Queenie) inserting the artificial male organ into the victim’s private part.
The victim’s brother, one Nana Sasu, saw the act and alerted her mother (the complainant).
They rushed to the aid of Janet and saw her lying naked in Queenie’s bedroom with vomit all over her body.
The artificial organ was found on top of Queenie’s wardrobe while a video recording of the act was also found on her Infinix mobile phone.
Queenie, in her caution statement, admitted the offence.
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com