Kurdish man on trial accused of raping woman in barbershop
It's alleged Jowad Haji, 24, winked at the woman and made remarks about her body
A court has heard an allegation that a Kurdish man made a woman feel like “prey”, when he raped her in a barbershop after offering her a job there.
Jowad Haji, 24, winked at the woman and made remarks about her body, before he attacked her in the back room of Barberia in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, in January this year, Warwick Crown Court heard on Monday.
Prosecutor, Simon Hunka, told a jury of seven women and five men that Haji offered the alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, a job after she told him she was out of work.
The prosecutor said Haji made a comment about the size of the woman’s breasts and bottom and called her a “pretty girl”, when he offered to pay her £100 or £150 a day, at the shop.
Jurors heard the woman went to the barbershop, accompanied by her friend, who then left shortly after.
The prosecutor said: “(The alleged victim) waited while Mr Haji worked. She noticed him winking at her. Then the haircut he was performing finished which left the two of them alone.
“She sensed at that point the air changed, that she felt like prey. That’s how she described it to the police.”
Mr Hunka said the woman followed Haji to the back room, to sign paperwork, adding: “He beckoned her closer, saying ‘you are sad’ or ‘you look sad, you should come closer’.
“He then took hold of her hands, pulled her towards him and put his arms around her.
“When she tried to push him away, he trapped her arms. He put her wrists together with one hand and put the other hand on her throat, holding her firmly, while he tried to kiss her.”
Mr Hunka said she resisted, but Haji allegedly “responded by grabbing her even more tightly” before kissing her, inappropriately touching her, raping her and trying to rape her for a second time.
Haji only stopped his attack when the woman’s friend returned to the shop, Mr Hunka told the court.
The prosecutor said that after the attack, the alleged victim was “trying not to be sick, was crying and shaking” and wanted to burn her clothes.
The woman went to the police a few weeks later and Haji was arrested.
He denied the allegations and told police they had kissed consensually on a few previous occasions but “things never progressed beyond kissing”, the court heard.
The prosecutor said: “Mr Haji (is) saying they were in fact much closer than (the alleged victim) would say, that they simply engaged in something they had done before – a consensual kiss that (the woman) instigated.”
Haji, of Park Street, Coventry, who is charged with rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, assault by penetration and intentional strangulation in relation to the incident, sat in the dock assisted by a Kurdish interpreter.
He denies the charges against him.
The trial, which is expected to last four days, continues.