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An Accra Central District Magistrate Court presided over by Arit Nsemoh, has remanded into police custody, Rabih Haddad, the Lebanese boss suspected to have raped his Ghanaian house help at his Airport Hills Residential home in Accra.

The 39-year old accused is to reappear before the court on December 19, 2017.

The counsel for the accused prayed for bail, but the court refused on grounds that they did not have the jurisdiction to do so.

Background

The victim in this rape and assault case, who speaks only Ewe and French, said the suspect beat her after his apparent displeasure with the coffee she had prepared for him.

Following the incident, he dragged her to a bedroom and raped her, according to the victim, who spoke to Citi News at the police station.

She said he slapped her twice in her face, finally overpowered her and dragged her to his bedroom where she was raped.

She had also told the Daily Graphic newspaper that she is consistently harassed for sex by her boss anytime his wife was not at home.

The unnamed suspect in the rape case being escorted out of the police station.
Former AG to serve as victim’s lawyer

Ghana’s former Attorney General, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, has stepped in to serve as the lawyer of the victim.

Mrs. Appiah-Oppong told Citi News she was keenly following the case, and expressed some satisfaction with the course of the investigations so far, and said she will ensure justice is served.

“We are fortunate to have caught this one early so that the investigation can be done properly. Very often, by the time we become aware of a situation like this, time has elapsed, evidence is lost and it becomes very difficult to follow up on it. That is why we are very keen to follow up on this one to make sure that the proper investigation and proper prosecution is also done,” Mrs. Appiah-Oppong said.

The police administration has said they will put forward a strong case to ensure justice is served.

Probe into misconduct

As the rape case has unraveled, the issue of suspected police misconduct has come up for discussion.

Initial reports indicated that when the case was reported to the Airport Police, the officer on duty is reported to have accompanied the victim to the Airport Hills residence of the suspect, supervised the packing of her belongings, and only ensured her November salary of Ghc350 was paid her without any arrest being effected.
ASP Tenge said investigations were also being carried out into the suspicions of misconduct and negligence “whatever it is that we find out, or we believed due process was not followed, those ones will be handled internally.”

But shedding some light on the victim’s first visit to the police where an assault complaint was made, she noted that “to her [the rape victim], she didn’t even want to pursue it.”

“All that she wanted was the assistance of the police to be able to accompany to her to her boss’ house so she collects her belongings so that is what the police did. She also demanded that she has worked in that house for the period of a month and therefore, she has the right to collect her monthly salary.”

No complaints were made of previous rape and the issue of rape had not even come in the reports, ASP Tenge added.