Deeba advised to enage counsel

January 30, 2013 (Page 3 Lead) THE Osu District Magistrate Court has advised a Ghanaian musician, Akyeampong Deeba, also known as Richard Nimo and Kofi Akyeampong, to solicit the services of a lawyer or risk having a defilement case against him heard, without legal counsel. Deeba appeared before the court without a legal counsel and explained that, his lawyer was not aware the matter was billed to be heard at the Osu District Magistrate Court today. According to Deeba, he was arraigned before the Circuit Court and was expected to reappear on February 7, 2013. The presiding Magistrate, Mr Aboagye Tandoh, made it clear to him that the matter was being adjourned because he (Deeba) did not have a legal counsel, but added that, the court would go on to hear the extradition proceedings if his lawyer does not show up on the next adjourned date. Deeba was remanded by the Accra Circuit Court on January 18, 2013, pending his extradition to the United Kingdom to stand trial for allegedly defiling his stepdaughter. A Principal State Attorney, Mrs Yvonne Attakorah-Obuobisa, said the accused person had been charged with one count of assault and five counts of raping a minor below 13 years under the laws of the United Kingdom (UK). His plea has not been taken. The facts of the case were 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 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 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 have both 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 as well as hid the stained bed sheet in the process. She further alleged that Deeba threatened to beat her 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 resulting in 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 fiancee, who later lodged a complaint with the police, following which a warrant was issued by the Northampton-shire Magistrate Court for his arrest. According to the prosecution, Deeba was arrested at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra during an undercover operation.