Jury retires to consider verdicts in trial of Kurdish man accused of raping woman in West Midlands barbers

A jury has retired to consider its verdicts in the trial of a Kurdish barber accused of raping a woman in a shop.

Jowad Haji, 24, is accused of making the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, feel like “prey” when he allegedly raped her in a Stratford-upon-Avon barbershop after offering her a job there, Warwick Crown Court heard.

Haji, of Park Street, Coventry, denies rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, assault by penetration and intentional strangulation in relation to the incident.

Prosecutors allege Haji winked at the woman and made remarks about her body before he attacked her in the back room of Barberia in January this year.

Simon Hunka, prosecution counsel, 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.

The barrister said the woman followed Haji to the back room under the guise of signing paperwork before he attacked 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 then trying to rape her for a second time.

The Iraqi national only stopped when the woman’s friend returned to the shop, Mr Hunka told the court.

In his evidence, which was given to the court with the help of a Kurdish interpreter, Haji said he had met the woman several times and they had previously hugged and kissed.

He said 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 they had a “close relationship”, but he did not find her sexually attractive and denied ever sexually assaulting her.

Haji said he did not own the shop and therefore could not offer the woman a job there.

Asked by Mr Hunka 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.”

Mr Hunka asked: “She decided to call you a rapist falsely? She has come to the crown court for no good reason at all?”.

Haji said: “I don’t know what to say to you, I didn’t do anything bad to her, if I did something bad to her, why didn’t (her friend) see something on her neck or anything?

“(A) woman has very sensitive skin, if you touch it strongly it will leave a mark, the skin colour would be different.”

Before sending the jury out to begin its deliberations on Friday afternoon, the judge, Mr Recorder Anthony Warner, told the seven women and five men there is “absolutely no pressure of time at all”, adding: “Concentrate, please, on arriving at a verdict upon which all of you agree.

“There is no pressure of time, at the end of the afternoon I will send you home until Monday.”