Court begins hearing on nurse who allegedly raped Italian patient on admission

The Tamale High Court in Northern Ghana has begun hearing the case involving Ernest Green and Maltiti Daniela in which the former, an enrolled nurse at the West Gonja Hospital was accused of raping an Italian National who was on admission at the facility.

Today's sitting was very brief with many people believed to be sympathisers of Green traveling from far and near to witness the process.

A plea by lawyer for the defendant to the presiding judge to use his discretion to grant the accused bail was not granted.

He had argued that the fundamental rights of the accused had been breached by the police since the accused was arrested on April 6, kept in custody and only produced on April 8. This he said exceeded 48 hours as prescribed by law.

Lawyer for the plaintiff had maintained that granting the accused person bail will prejudice police investigation citing so many cases in law to back his argument.

Police investigation into the matter is yet to be completed for the docket to be submitted to the court.

Both the defendant and the plaintiff were not present in court.

The defendant was in prison custody and the prison was not served notice to produce him in court. The plaintiff was said to be kept in a safe place.

The case was initially remanded from the Lower Court to the High Court since the lower court had no jurisdiction to sit on the case.

The court was presided over by Justice Kwame Gyamfi.

The case has been adjourned to Tuesday, April 17, 2018.

Background

Ernest Green was arrested by the Damongo police following reports made by Daniela Maltiti to the Italian Embassy and one Dr. Martin, a physician assistant that he had raped her whilst she was on admission at the West Gonja Hospital.

The accused has since been in custody in Tamale pending police investigation into the matter.