WHITE PLAINS - County prosecutors today dropped their yearlong case against 26-year-old Ossining man who was accused of raping a 4-year-old girl who was a friend of his family.

Geovanni Zhagui had maintained his innocence since his arrest on Feb. 28, 2008. He has spent the last year in jail fighting the case.


Defense attorney Jose Muniz said DNA and hair found in the girl's panties did not match his client. The parents of the girl, now 5, refused to let her testify at trial, prosecutors said.

Assistant District Attorney Christine Hatfield said that, without the girl's word, they could not prosecute the case and withdrew all charges. A grand jury had indicted Zhagui on felony charges of first-degree rape and child sex abuse; and child endangerment, a misdemeanor.

State Supreme Court Justice Richard A. Molea dismissed the entire indictment and ordered the case file sealed.

Zhagui was arrested on the same day that the girl's mother, whose name is being withheld because of the nature of the crime, said she noticed that her daughter had bruising after she left Zhagui's home, where his relatives had been watching after the child.

The mother asked her daughter what happened, and the girl told her she had been violated by Zhagui. She took the child to a hospital, where officials called police. Zhagui was arrested after detectives questioned him.

More than a dozen members of Zhagui's family were in the courtroom today to support him. They have stood by him through the ordeal and always believed he was innocent, Muniz said.

Zhagui is still facing deportation proceedings because he is in the country illegally from Ecuador. Authorities learned of his status after his arrest and filed a detainer warrant ordering him held.

Muniz said immigration authorities planned to pick Zhagui up today or tomorrow, but that he could be released on bail while his immigration case is pending.

Meanwhile, Muniz said he hopes authorities continue investigating the abuse case to find the man who actually raped the girl.
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