Lawyers of the accused person in the Marwako pepper attack, Jihad Chabaan, failed to open their defence Wednesday in the Marwako trial demanding that their client be given an Arabic interpreter.

The lead lawyer, Julio de Medeiros told the court that his client is not fluent in English therefore would require the services of an interpreter before his evidence to the court can be taken.

He also claimed that the defence team had noticed some inconsistencies in the statement taken in English from their client by the Police and they will be challenging the details when their client is led to give his evidence in the language he is comfortable with.

The Magistrate at the Abeka District court, Victoria Ghansah obliged to the request of the defence lawyers and says she will put in a request for an interpreter at the next court sitting. The magistrate has subsequently fixed the next court sitting to the 10th of May 2017 for hearing.

But in a sharp rebuttal after the court sitting, relatives of the victim, Evelyn Boakye, confronted Jihad and his family who were in court claiming that Jihad is very fluent in English and that his stands in court is just to delay the hearing of the case.
Background
The 25-year-old was inhumanely treated by her supervisor, Jihad Chaaban at the Ablenkpe branch of the food company. According to her, Chaaban shoved her face into hot pepper paste and preventing her other colleagues from coming to rescue her.

Narrating her ordeal, the victim told the Daily Graphic that although she had been employed to work in the Rice Department, she was occasionally asked to help in other departments where more hands were needed, however, on Sunday, February 26, 2017, she was asked to help in the Full Chicken Department, where she was instructed to blend fresh pepper for the seasoning of the chicken.

Commenting on the abusive treatment meted to Ms Boakye Tuesday in a recent interview, Ms Djaba said: “After 60 years of independence, nobody’s right should be infringed upon and as the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, that message is at the core of our vision and what we have to do for Ghanaians and so I’m taking this matter seriously.

“I will meet the management of Marwako, I’ll meet the victim and then we will have discussion with the Ministry of Employment and TUC and other organisations that are owned by foreigners and even Ghanaian employers. We must respect each other; I think that is at the bottom of what is going on. It is the lack of respect, we need to respect our employees because we cannot do what they do.”

The restaurant has since condemned Chaaban’s act.