Temper justice with mercy – Lawyer of accused ‘Lebanese rapist’ pleads

Lead counsel for Haddad Rabih, a Lebanese businessman who is in court for allegedly raping his 19-year-old house help and subjecting her to severe beatings, has pleaded for mercy after his client was refused bail by an Accra High Court Monday January 8.

Lawyer Ralph Opoku Adusei argued that his client, under the law was entitled to bail taking into cognizance the fact that rape is not an unbailable offense and hence bail should not be denied his client.

In his defense, his client; a family man who has been living in Ghana for over 10 years has had no criminal record of any sort during his stay and, therefore, is guiltless of any of the rape charges being levelled against him.

He described as unfortunate the reports being circulated by the media, tagging his client as guilty, particularly a description by the CID Directorate who referred to him as ‘Lebanese rapist’.

He also termed as unfair the situation where his client, even before court hearing had been labelled a “rapist”, a thing he says is an indictment on the judicial service and verging into the realm of jungle justice.

He expressed shock at how an initial complaint of assaults made at the Airport police station against his client would metamorphous into rape two days after.

Praying the Court to grant his client’s plea, Lawyer Opoku-Adusei argued that Haddad is willing to hand over his passport.

A State Attorney, Boateng Adamu, however, opposed the bail application, saying the accused is a foreigner who has no fixed residence and may interfere with investigation when granted bail.

The presiding Judge, Justice Kofi Dorgu, has fixed Monday, 15th January, 2018 to rule on the bail application.

BACKGROUND

The suspect, Haddad Rabih,was arrested by policemen from the East Legon District Police Command on Sunday December 3, 2017 around 11:45 pm for allegedly raping his 19-year-old househelp at Airport Hills residential area in Accra.

He’s said to have forcibly had sex with the victim around 5:00pm on Saturday in the absence of his wife and other occupants of his household, after subjecting her to severe beatings for resisting his demands.