British man charged for beating Ghanaian girlfriend
A 57-year-old British national has been charged with verbal and physical assault after he allegedly attacked his 28-year-old Ghanaian girlfriend.
According to the prosecution, Andrew Raymond Houghton slapped his girlfriend twice on the face and called her ‘a pretty slutty cheap shit’.
When he appeared the Accra Circuit Court on Friday, he pleaded not guilty for the act and was granted bail in the sum of GH₵ 50,000 with two sureties. All the sureties must be Ghanaians and must deposit their ID cards in the registry of the court.
Facts
The facts of the case as presented by Chief Inspector Kofi Atimbere was that the complainant is unemployed and lived at Tse-Addo in Accra with the accused person and her 15-year-old sister.
In the evening of April 14, 2020, the complainant was sleeping in a sofa in their living room when allegedly saw the accused who was naked entering her teenage sister’s room.
When the complainant questioned her sister, she revealed that for some time, the accused had been sexually harassing her.
Raymond Houghton confronted the accused, and a misunderstanding arose between the two, which resulted in a verbal exchange.
The complainant decided to report the case to police, but the accused locked them both up and prevented them from going out.
On April 15, 2020, at about 9:00 pm, there was a verbal exchange between the complainant and the accused person over the issue.
That, the prosecutor said, resulted in a verbal argument and the accused started shouting and raining insults on the complainant on the complainant, saying that she was a prostitute.
“The complainant was on her way to her room, when the accused chased her, slapped her twice on her face, hitting and pushing her severally and also shouted at her and insulted her that she is pretty slutty cheap shit,” the prosecutor said.
The complainant’s sister who was present started recording the incident with her phone before the accused stopped.
On April 16, 2020, a report was made to police DOVVSU, Accra. The complainant was issued with a police medical form to attend hospital for treatment and report.
The complainant went back home, but the accused had changed the padlock of the main gate. The complainant and her sister lodged in a hotel.
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On April 17, 2020, the complainant damaged the padlock, entered the house with her sister and stayed there.
The medical form was returned duly endorsed. The accused person was arrested and a caution statement was obtained from him.
The accused made a counter-complaint of physical and emotional abuse case for a period of their three years relationship against the complainant.
He also alleged that complainant has denied access to his daughter, age 7, from visiting him.
Investigation revealed that on April 15, 2020, the accused assaulted and verbally abused the complainant.
After investigations, accused was charged with the offences and put before the court.
The case has been adjourned to June 11, 2020.