'Bring Deeba back to Ghana'

The Fast Track High Court yesterday ordered the Director-General of the Ghana National Prisons Service (GNPS) and the Attorney-General to bring back Deeba Acheampong, a hiplife artiste, from the United Kingdom for his appeal filed before the court to be heard.

That was after counsel for Acheampong, Mr Augustine Obuor, had told the court that his client had been extradited to the United Kingdom.

He told the court that his client was extradited on July 17, 2013 after the Attorney-General and the Director of Prisons had been properly served with hearing notice of an appeal filed before the court.

Deeba was in the custody of the prisons authorities

Mr Obuor said the appellant had been in the custody of the prisons authorities and did not understand why such an action was taken against his client.

He told the court that his client was forced out of the country and that was why the state prosecutor, Ms Comfort Tasieme, had failed to turn up in court yesterday.

He said his client requested that he (client) wanted to be present at the hearing before he was forcibly taken out of the jurisdiction of the court.

Court directs counsel for Deeba to file motion

On July 11, 2013, the court, presided over by Justice Edward Amoako Asante, directed counsel for the appellant to properly file his notice of appeal and state the grounds of the appeal.

On July 15, 2013, counsel for the appellant filed his notice of appeal and the court fixed July 17, 2013 for hearing.

When the parties went to court on July 17, 2013, the presiding judge said there was no copy of the notice on the docket and so he struck out the motion for the appeal, but counsel for the appellant later that day showed a copy of the motion to the court to prove to it that he had properly filed the motion.

Court rescinds decision to strike out motion

The court then rescinded its earlier decision to strike out the motion and caused a hearing notice to be issued and served on the Attorney-General to appear in court yesterday.

Mr Obuor said although the Attorney-General’s office was properly served, the state prosecutor refused to turn up.

Deeba is facing five counts of defilement and assault for allegedly defiling his stepdaughter, who is 13 years, and assaulting a minor under the laws of the United Kingdom.

In December 2012, INTERPOL Accra received an arrest warrant from its counterpart in London to the effect that between 2004 and 2008, while living in the UK, the appellant had a relationship with a woman who already had two daughters, aged eight and six, from her previous relationship.

Deeba and the woman had two children from their union and lived separately.

According to the warrant, when the woman went on night shift, Deeba took care of the home and cared for the children until September, 2008 when Deeba returned to Ghana to pursue his musical career.

Two weeks after his departure from the UK, Deeba’s stepdaughter told her mother that her stepfather had had sexual intercourse with her 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 on the 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 the stained bed sheet.

She further alleged that Deeba threatened to beat her if she disclosed the acts to anyone.

Deeba was alleged to have 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 Northamptonshire Magistrate 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, however, denied the offence in his caution statement to the police.

By Michael Donkor/Daily Graphic/Ghana