Nicholas Mensah Woode, the 34-year-old self-acclaimed medical doctor facing trial at the Tema magistrate court for allegedly raping a 22-year-old student has been acquitted and discharged for lack of evidence.

He was freed following a directive issued by the Attorney-General’s (A-G’s) department which was presented to the court, presided over by Eric Adjei, after a duplicate docket was sent to the A-G for advice.

According to the A-G, the statement of the case as given by the victim – a Central University College (CUC) student – could not establish any prima facie case against the accused person to be further prosecuted and so ‘the sexual intercourse that took place was based on the consent of the victim.’

The A-G department further asked the court to ‘close the docket of the case for lack of essential evidence’ without categorically stating the action to be taken by the court against Mensah Woode.

But the court, after carefully studying the document issued, acquitted and discharged the accused person.

On July 18, 2014, Mensah Woode, during investigations into the rape case against him, told the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) at the Tema Regional Police Command that he was a medical doctor at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.

Police investigations into the matter established that the accused was not a medical doctor. He works at Hamwood Company Limited – a pharmaceutical company which supplies medical apparatuses and drugs to health institutions and schools.

The accused, who resides at Middle East, an Ashaiman suburb of the Greater Accra Region, was asked by the magistrate court to pay a fine of 40 penalty units (GH¢480) or in default, serve six months in jail.

In addition, Woode has been ordered to sign a bond to be of good behaviour for a year or in default, go to jail for two years, after pleading guilty to the impersonation charge.

It would be recalled that on July 14, 2014, Woode, a supposed boyfriend of the victim, allegedly lured the lady to his residence and forcibly had sexual intercourse with her in the evening.

A medical report from the Tema General Hospital revealed that the victim sustained an injury on her right thigh with discharge from her private part. The hymen was also absent.