Wife of rape accused rapist Haddad Rabih weeps in court
The wife of Haddad Rabih, the Lebanese on remand for allegedly raping his 19-year-old house help, broke down in tears at the Accra High Court after the court adjourned the hearing of her husband’s bail application on Monday.
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Rabih has been on remand since December 6, 2017, after the Accra Central District Court, presided over by Ms Arit Nsemoh, denied a bail application by his lawyers on the basis that it had no jurisdiction to grant him bail.
His legal team then filed a bail application at the High Court, with the Attorney-General (A-G) filing an affidavit in opposition.
The hearing of the bail application was expected on Monday at the court presided over by Mr Justice Kofi Dorgu, but the court adjourned the hearing after a former A-G, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong, who watched brief for the house help, told the court that she had been reliably informed that the state attorney fighting the bail application was sick.
Counsel for the accused, Mr Ralph Opoku Adusei, prayed the court to hear the bail application in the absence of the state attorney.
According to him, the presence of the former A-G showed that the supposed victim had adequate representation to enable the hearing of the bail application.
Counsel argued that his client’s wife had been evicted from her home and she had nobody to fend for her due to her husband’s incarceration.
His client, he said, was entitled to bail because the charge of rape levelled against him did not support the facts of the case.
The court adjourned the hearing to today.
Unhappy wife
The adjournment did not go down well with Rabih’s wife, who started sobbing uncontrollably in the court room. She continued sobbing on her way out of the court to register her displeasure with her husband’s continuous remand.
Facts
Per the facts, as presented by the prosecutor, Superintendent of Police Mr Kweku Bempah, the 19-year-old house help was employed by Haddad and his wife in November 2017.
Ever since the house help moved into Haddads’ house, the prosecutor said, Haddad had been pestering her for sex.
According to Supt Bempah, on November 30, 2017, Haddad lured the house help into one of the bedrooms upstairs and “forcibly had sexual intercourse with her when his wife and other occupants of the house had gone out.”
He explained that on December 2, 2017, Haddad requested the house help to prepare coffee for him.
“When she went to the kitchen to prepare the coffee, Haddad went to her and demanded to have sexual intercourse with her. She resisted and that infuriated Haddad, who slapped her and hit her on the neck.
“He then dragged her into the master bedroom, stripped her naked and forcibly had sex with her on the bed,” he said.
Supt Bempah said the house help reported her ordeal to a co-worker, who also gave the information out to the police.
The matter, he said, was subsequently reported to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), leading to Haddad’s arrest.
Writer’s email: [email protected].