Barber accused of raping woman in shop cleared
He was found not guilty by the jury
A Kurdish barber accused of raping a woman in a shop has been found not guilty.
Jurors took just over an hour to acquit Jowad Haji, 24, of rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, assault by penetration and intentional strangulation.
Haji, of Park Street, Coventry, was accused of making the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, feel like “prey” and raping her in a Stratford-upon-Avon barbershop after offering her a job there in January, a trial at Warwick Crown Court heard.
He was arrested in February after the woman made a report to police weeks after she alleged the attack took place.
Iraqi national Haji, who gave evidence with the help of a Kurdish interpreter, said he had met the woman several times before and the pair had previously hugged and kissed, but on the day of the alleged attack she had followed him to the back of the barbershop when he went to get a drink and had hugged him from behind, telling him she had missed him.
He said the pair kissed until the woman’s friend returned to the shop and then they left, saying goodbye to him on the way out.
Haji denied doing anything “bad” to the woman, who had previously given him a massage when he complained of a sore shoulder.
He said the pair had a “close relationship” but he did not find her sexually attractive and denied ever sexually assaulting her.
Asked by prosecution counsel Simon Hunka during cross-examination if it was his account that he had always been “perfectly nice and friendly” to the woman, Haji said: “Yes, correct, I was nice to her, I would never in my life do something wrong.”
Haji, who has no convictions, had co-operated with police and handed over his Pin number when police seized his phone after he was arrested, but there were no records of any conversations with the woman on Snapchat.
Addressing Haji in the dock after the verdicts were returned on Friday afternoon, Judge Mr Recorder Anthony Warner said: “Mr Haji, that is it, the jury has acquitted you.
“The case is over. I expect you will have to go downstairs to sign a piece of paper, but you should then be released in a short period of time.”
The judge thanked jurors for their time on the case.
He said: “You came and you did your duty and that is all we can ask of you.
“I have enjoyed working with you and thank-you so much for your care and attention to this case.”