December 5, 2007 (Page 3)
Story: Mabel Aku Baneseh
THE blood-soaked underwear of the three-year-old girl who was alleged to have been indecently assaulted by a 57-year-old British national was yesterday tendered in evidence at the Accra Circuit Court.
The victim’s pants, which was soaked in blood, and her skirt, which also had traces of blood, were tendered in evidence as exhibits by the investigator, Detective Inspector Emmanuel Kwasi Atakplai.
Thomas Alan Tichler, a consultant, was alleged to have inserted his fingers into the victim’s private parts, resulting in the girl bleeding
The accused person, who pleaded not guilty to the charges of causing harm and indecent assault, has been refused bail by the court presided over by Mrs Georgina Datsa-Mensah.
Mr Atakplai said he was assigned to investigate the case after the accused person had been brought to the Legon Police Station by the victim’s parents around 1.50 p.m. on October 13, 2007.
Led in evidence by a State Attorney, Ms Barbara Sackey, the investigator informed the court that he had been informed by the victim’s parents that Tichler had indecently assaulted their daughter.
According to him, he interrogated both the complainants and the accused person and later took Tichler to the Legon Hospital for examination.
He said a doctor examined the accused person but found no evidence and at a point the accused person asked the doctor to conduct forensic examination on his (accused person’s) hands, to which the doctor replied that the hospital did not have the facilities to conduct that test.
Mr Atakplai said he then took Tichler to the Police Hospital, where a doctor also said the chemicals were not available to conduct tests on the accused person’s fingers.
During cross-examination by one of the lawyers for Tichler, Mr Ellis Owusu-Fordjour, the investigator said the doctor at the Legon Hospital examined the accused person’s genitals but he (investigator) could not wait for a medical report because the accused person insisted that he (accused person) should be taken to the Police Hospital for a forensic test.
The investigator said the Police Hospital could not conduct the forensic examination because it also did not have chemicals to do so.
He said he did not complete investigations because he was instructed to hand over the docket on the case to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Police Service.
Earlier, a gynaecologist at the 37 Military Hospital, Lt Col (Dr) Chris Agbeka, had informed the court, during cross- examination, that the victim bled for a number of days but did not acquire any infection.
Dr Agbeka said the victim tested negative for HIV and urinal culture which was conducted on her.
Answering questions posed by Mr Tony Lithur, one of the lawyers for Tichler, Dr Agbeka said there was no trauma on the victim’s genital area, adding that the victim’s hymen was not broken.
He, however, stated that there were bruises on the victim’s genital area but he could not tell what was used to cause them.
According to Dr Agbeka, the victim’s parents had been very upset when they brought the victim to the 37 Military Hospital for examination.
The evidence of the girl (name withheld) has been taken in camera, according to law, in order to protect her identity .
She was said to have identified the accused person, whom she referred to as Uncle Tom, as the one who indecently assaulted her.
The evidence of her two siblings, aged six and eight, was also taken in camera.
The facts of the case are that Tichler allegedly committed the offence at the victim’s residence on October 13, 2007, barely a week after he had arrived in the country for a three-month attachment.
Tichler visited the victim’s father at North Legon, near the Redco Flats, on October 13, 2007 and on reaching there, the victim’s father left the victim and her two siblings in his care in order to purchase some items from town.
Tichler engaged the victim and her two siblings in the sitting room but later managed to engage the victim alone and succeeded in inserting his fingers into her private parts.
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