Deeba’s rape case – Court wants to establish the fact

The Osu District Magistrate’s Court has said it is only trying to establish whether or not Akyeampong Deeba, a Ghanaian musician, had a case to answer in relation to an alleged rape and assault he allegedly committed in the UK.

It said the case was not being tried in Ghana per se but to rather establish whether the musician committed the offence or not.

The presiding magistrate, Mr Aboagye Tandoh, made this known to the musician when he appeared in court Tuesday and noted that once a case had been established, an order would be made for Deeba to go and stand trial in the UK.

If there is no case, he said, no order would be made for his extradition.

At Tuesday’s sitting, the only witness, Detective Lance Corporal Ali Ganani Briamah of the INTERPOL Unit at the CID Headquarters in Accra, tendered in court the deposition of offence allegedly committed by Deeba, also known as Richard Nimo and Kofi Akyeampong, in the UK.

In addition, he handed over to the court the treaty between Ghana and Great Britain and Northern Ireland, together with a letter from Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on issues relating to the case.

He told the court that he got to know Deeba after he was arrested by an undercover police investigation team.

Deeba, he said, was arrested on January 15, 2013 at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra, following a warrant from the Northamptonshire Magistrate Court in the UK for the offences of rape of a child under 13 years and assault occasioned by bodily harm on another child.

Detective Lance Corporal Briamah said, “these offences were committed in Northampton in the UK between 2005 and 2008.”

When the court asked Deeba whether he had a question for the witness, he responded in the negative.

However, a lawyer who held brief for his (Deeba) lawyer then asked the witness where he was before he was sent to the INTERPOL Unit.

The cross examination of the witness is to continue on February 19, 2013.

The facts of the case are that in December, 2012, INTERPOL Accra received a request of arrest warrant from its counterpart in London to the effect that between 2004 and 2008, while living in the UK, the accused person had a relationship with a woman who already had two daughters, aged eight and six.

Subsequently, Deeba and the woman had two children from their union.

Initially, they lived separately, but when the woman went on night shift, Deeba took care of the home and cared for the children.

That, the prosecution said, continued until September 2008, when Deeba returned to Ghana to pursue his musical career.

But two weeks after his departure from the UK, Deeba’s stepdaughter told her mother that her stepfather had sexual intercourse with her on several occasions whenever her mother had gone to work in the night.

According to the prosecutor, on those occasions, Deeba invited the little girl into the bedroom to watch pornographic films with him, after which he would have sex with her.

The little girl also alleged that the accused person sometimes had anal sex with her and that after each act he would put a sanitary towel in her panties to avoid evidence of bloodstains, and also hid the stained bed sheet after the act.

The musician allegedly threatened to beat her (child) if she disclosed the acts to anyone.

Deeba, the prosecution said, assaulted the little girl’s sister between June 1 and 4, 2008, when she attempted to satisfy her inquisitiveness about what was happening to her sister.

A medical examination on the little girl by a forensic physician, Dr Ainsley Kassie, revealed extensive damage to her hymen as a result of vaginal penetration.

Deeba was said to have denied the offence when he was confronted by his fiancee, who later lodged a complaint with the police, following which a warrant was issued by the Northamptonshire Magistrate’s Court for his arrest.

According to the prosecution, Deeba was arrested at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra during an undercover operation.