Jailed Mawarko Boss Denied Bail

Moves by Jihad Chaaban, the jailed Mawarko restaurant supervisor, to be granted bail pending his appeal was yesterday dismissed by the Accra High Court.

Chaaban was on August 2, 2017, slapped with a nine month jail term by the Abeka District Court for shoving the face of a female employee, Evelyn Boakye, into a blender filled with pepper, onions and other vegetables.

He was found guilty by the court on two counts of assault and unlawfully causing harm.

Bail application

Not happy with the decision, his legal team on August 9, 2017 filed a bail application pending appeal at the Accra High Court.

Counsel for the convict, Mr Julio Demeideros, prayed the court, presided over by Mr Justice Charles Ekow Baiden, to grant his client bail pending the appeal.

He argued that Chaaban would suffer a great injustice if he was denied bail because there was the likelihood that he would serve the full jail term before the appeal process was exhausted.

“In the interest of justice and the protection of the rights of the applicant (Chaaban) we pray the court to grant the bail application,’’ he said.

His submission was, however, challenged by a State Attorney, Mr Adama Watkins, who argued that counsel had failed to demonstrate that the appeal had any chance of succeeding.

According to him, the victim, Evelyn would also be denied justice if Chaaban was granted bail if the appeal was dismissed.

Ruling

In a ruling yesterday, Mr Justice Baiden threw out the bail application, describing it unmeritorious.

According to him, the assertion that Chabaan would serve the full jail term before the appeal process was exhausted and was not a strong ground to grant bail.

The legal team of Chabaan, he said, was supposed to demonstrate that the appeal had any chance of succeeding, which they failed to do.

Incident

Chaaban was a branch manager at the Marwako Restaurant at Abelenkpe while the victim, Evelyn worked at the rice department of the restaurant.

On February 26, 2017, Evelyn was instructed by her supervisor to assist in the vegetable department by blending fresh pepper.

As she was performing the task, Chaaban entered the room with rage and shouted at Evelyn, demanding to know who gave her the authority to use the blender.

Chaaban became offended, started insulting Evelyn and called her a prostitute. Not satisfied, he held her head and forced it into the blended pepper, which splashed into her face and eyes.

Evelyn became helpless and was assisted by some other workers of the restaurant to go home.

On February 28, 2017, the condition of Evelyn deteriorated and she reported the matter to the Tesano Police Command.

Source: Graphic