Kwesi Kyei Darkwah (KKD) FREED!

The state has dropped its case against entertainment personality Kwesi Kyei Darkwah (KKD) who was standing trial for rape.

The state dropped the case against KKD at a hearing at an Accra High Court Wednesday.

A seven-member jury was expected to be constituted to hear the rape charges brought against KKD Wednesday.

But before the hearing could begin, State Prosecutor filed a Nolle Prosequi paving the way for the court to discharge the broadcaster.

The Airport Police arrested KKD on December 27, 2014 after a 19-year-old lady, Miss Ewuraffe Orleans Thompson, accused him of raping her in a hotel washroom.

Mr. Darkwah admitted having sex with the lady but denied he forced her. But she consented, he insisted.

He was brought before the Kaneshie District Magistrates’ Court after he had been detained for three days in police cells. The court refused him bail and remanded him into police cells.

It transpired later that that was a wrong court, which lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter. But the harm had been done and Mr. Darkwah remained in police custody.

His initial brave face gave way to a more somber mood and subsequently frustration when the case started suffering adjournments and his bail applications repeatedly rejected; the fashionable entertainment icon became dejected.

Things took a dramatic turn weeks later when the lady at the centre of the rape charge against KKD said she was no longer interested in the case.

She wrote a letter to state prosecutors, saying they could no longer count on her testimony to prosecute the celebrated entertainment icon; it was her desire to see the charges dropped.

The two-page letter, dated 12 of January was addressed to the Director of Public Prosecutions at the Attorney-General’s Department, and copied to the Chief Justice, the Registrar of the High Court and the top hierarchy of the Ghana Police service.

The 19-year-old cited the “media frenzy” that followed the arrest of KKD and the unceasing buzz and social media posts which she described as insensitive, for her decision.

She said she was unable to continue cooperating with the police on the case.

Later that day, KKD issued a statement expressing regret for his actions and saying, “I acknowledge I have sinned and have prayed to my God for forgiveness for all that trauma that I have caused this young woman.”

The Human Rights Court in Accra on January 15, 2015, granted the ace broadcaster bail on humanitarian grounds.

State prosecutors, in spite of the alleged victim’s letter, maintained they had sufficient evidence to sustain the prosecution of the case.

A jury was empaneled to hear the case but in a characteristically dramatic fashion, there was no hearing as the state declared it was no longer interested in prosecuting the case.

The entrainment personality, who was in court Wednesday in the company of his father, was beaming with smiles after the court discharged him.

By: Ernest Dela Aglanu