Marwako supervisor Jihad Chaaban gets 9 months imprisonment
A supervisor of Marwako Restaurant, Jihad Chaaban, was yesterday jailed nine months by the Abeka District Court for shoving the face of a female employee into a blender filled with pepper, onions and other vegetables.
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He was sentenced to six months and nine months on the charges of assault and unlawfully causing harm, respectively.
Both sentences will run concurrently.
The court, presided over by Ms Victoria Guansah, said the two sentences could not be substituted by a fine.
Chaaban had pleaded not guilty to three counts of offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace, assault and unlawfully causing harm, but the court found him guilty on the charges of assault and unlawfully causing harm.
According to Ms Guansah, the sentences were to serve as a deterrent to employers and superiors who maltreated their employees and subordinates.
“The victim, Evelyn Boakye, did not go to the restaurant to beg for food but rather applied for a job to offer her services and, therefore, she ought not to be treated as a slave,’’ she stated.
The lawyer for Chaaban, Mr Julio Demeideros, informed the court that his client would appeal against its decision.
“We will appeal because we do not agree with the judgement in its entirety,’’ he said.
According to the court, the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Chaaban had, indeed, assaulted Evelyn and unlawfully caused harm to her, but it failed to establish the necessary ingredients on the charge of offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace.
The court was of the view that the incident was not committed in a public space and, therefore, fell short of the charge of offensive conduct conducive to breach of peace.
Settlement rejected
The court was expected to give its judgement in the case on July 26, 2017 but postponed it to yesterday after Chaaban’s lawyer had filed for an out-of-court settlement and prayed the court to take notice of it in the judgement.
According to Mr Demeideros, his client had held a number of meetings with Evelyn and both had agreed to settle the matter out of court, subject to the court’s approval.
But, at yesterday’s sitting, the court rejected the settlement agreement, explaining that the case was a criminal one and whatever settlement the two had reached was purely civil in nature.
“I have looked at the settlement agreement and I reject it because it is purely civil and cannot affect this criminal matter,’’ Ms Guansah held.
The court also rejected the settlement agreement because it was done even though the prosecution rejected it.
Chaaban, the presiding magistrate said, had the chance to settle the case out of court during the initial stages of the trial after the prosecution had agreed that it would only do so if he pleaded guilty to the charges levelled against him.
“But he (Chaaban) insisted that he was not guilty and, therefore, the prosecution did not agree to the out-of-court settlement,’’ she said.
Mitigation & bail
After Chaaban had been convicted, Mr Demeideros prayed the court to temper justice with mercy and fine his client, instead of giving him a custodial sentence.
He explained that Chaaban was a first-time offender and young man who just secured his first job with Marwako Restaurant.
Counsel also argued that his client’s exuberance to prove his worth to his employers was what pushed him to act in such an unacceptable manner.
“Your Worship, please fine him because he is not a hardened criminal. Let us reserve the prison for the hardened criminals who give us sleepless nights,’’ he said.
After the court had passed sentence on Chaaban, Mr Demeideros made an oral application for the court to grant his client bail, pending an appeal against the judgement.
That was rejected by the presiding magistrate, who advised counsel to make his application in another court because she believed that her judgement would stand the test of time.
Facts
The facts, as presented by the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Hoyt Hanson Armah, were that Chaaban was the manager of the Abelenkpe branch of the Marwako Restaurant, while the complainant worked at the Rice Department of the restaurant.
On February 26, 2017, he said, Evelyn was instructed by her supervisor to assist in the Vegetable Department of the restaurant by blending fresh pepper.
As she was performing the task, Chaaban entered the room with rage and shouted at her, demanding to know who had given her the authority to use the blender.
“Chaaban became offended, started insulting Evelyn and called her a prostitute. Not satisfied, he held her head and forced it into the blended pepper, which splashed into her face and eyes,” the prosecution said.
Evelyn, it said, became helpless and was assisted by some other workers of the restaurant to go home.
The prosecutor added that on February 28, Evelyn’s condition deteriorated and she reported the matter to the Tesano Police Command.