Rabih Haddad
An Accra Central Magistrate Court has committed a Lebanese businessman, Rabih Haddad, to stand trial at the High Court for allegedly assaulting and raping his 19-year-old house help.
The accused, Rabih Haddad, was arrested on December 3, 2017 after a complaint was lodged with the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) and the Airport Police Station for allegedly sexually molesting his house help.
He allegedly harassed and insisted on having sex with the house help who consistently rejected his sexual advances.
The case has been before the court since December 2017 when the preliminary trial was done to determine whether he had a case to answer at the High Court.
Upon conclusion of investigations, the Office of the Attorney General advised that the accused be charged with rape.
The investigation, according to the lab report obtained from the Police Hospital dated December 3, 2017, indicated that sperms were found on the girl.
But another vaginal swab taken days after the case was reported reacted negatively to the test of human semen and that based on the DNA analysis, the victim was the sole contributor/source of the DNA profile generated from the exhibit.
The court heard that the victim, during investigation in the accused’s house, pointed to the spot where the sexual assault took place and gave a vivid description of the modus operandi of the accused.
The victim is said to have told investigators that the accused on all occasions will ask for coffee and when she presented it he will in turn ask for sex.
On occasions that she refused, she was subjected to severe beatings, the court heard.
The court, presided over by Magistrate Arit Nsemo, after listening to the prosecution, committed the accused to stand trial for the charge of rape at the High Court, saying he has a case to answer.
Defence
His lawyer, Nana Obiri Boahene, told the court that the prosecution’s case was full of concoctions and untruths and that there was no basis for the prosecution.
He said the prosecution confirmed to the court that there were contradictions in the medical reports and added that when the victim first appeared at the police station she never mentioned that she had been raped.
Instead, he said the victim told the police that she was assaulted.
He said another person who had heard about the alleged sexual assault reported the matter at another police station.
Mr. Boahene told the court that his client’s business competitors had cooked the allegations against him.
He maintained that on the day the alleged sexual assault took place, the accused was engaged in an interview at Osu in Accra and was not at home.
When asked by the court if he had anything to say, the accused said “the offense is not correct.”
By Gibril Abdul Razak