Court urges Deeba to seek assistance from legal aid board

The Osu District Magistrate's Court on Tuesday urged Deeba Acheampong, a musician facing extradition to the United Kingdom, over alleged defilement and assault of his two step daughters to seek assistance from the Legal Aid Board.

The court noted that the offences, under which he had been charged, were serious and therefore needed a lawyer to defend him.

The court, presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh, further entreated Deeba to take advantage of the prosecution’s indisposition to get a lawyer.

According to the court it would not entertain any excuses from the prosecution and accused person adding it would go ahead with the process at the next sitting.

Deeba, during the day's sitting, was unable to produce his counsel and when the court demanded to know whether or not he had a lawyer he replied in the negative.

According to Deeba, his younger brother had sought the assistance of a lawyer but was unable to fulfill the financial requirements.

Deeba’s brother, in an open court, indicated that the family just secured some money yesterday to fulfill the financial requirements.

Mr Kwabena Owusu Ameyaw, an Attorney from the Attorney General’s Office, informed the court that Mrs Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, Principal State Attorney, was indisposed and therefore seeking a week’s adjournment.

The court obliged and adjourned the matter to February 12.

Deeba is currently facing five counts of defilement and assault under Ghana’s laws, raping a female under the age of 13 and assaulting a minor under the United Kingdom’s laws.

Although the charges and the facts have been read out to Deeba in court, his plea had been reserved.

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, from her previous relationship.

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 prosecutor 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 step-daughter told her mother that her step-father had sexual intercourse with her on several occasions whenever her mother went 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 lay her on the bed, kiss her mouth, apply baby oil on his penis and 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 put a sanitary towel in her panties to avoid evidence of bloodstains and also hid his stained bedsheet.

She further alleged that Deeba threatened to beat her if she disclosed the acts to anyone. Deeba, the prosecutor 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 and that led to a cut on the back of the girl’s head.

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 fiancée, who later lodged a complaint with the police, following which a warrant was issued by the Northampton-Shire Magistrate's Court for the arrest of the accused person.

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

He has, however, denied the offence in his caution statement to the police.