Judgement in British paedophile case fixed

January 28, 2008 (Page 44)

JUDGEMENT in the case in which a 57-year-old Briton has been accused of indecently assaulting a three-year-old girl has been fixed for February 19, 2008.
The Accra Circuit Court fixed the date after counsel for Thomas Tichler, Mr Ellis Owusu Fordjour, informed it that the accused person had closed his defence.
The trial judge, Mrs Georgina Datsa-Mensah, then ordered both the prosecution to file their written addresses on or before February 4, 2008 to enable the court to deliver its judgement on February 19, 2008.
Tichler, who is alleged to have inserted his fingers into the victim’s vagina, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of causing harm and indecent assault.
He has been refused bail.
A total of seven prosecution witnesses including the victim, her parents, the victim’s two siblings, a medical doctor and the investigator in the case testified against the accused person.
Tichler testified and denied any wrongdoing. Two defence witnesses were also called to testify.
The accused person was alleged to have committed the offence at the residence of the victim on October 13, 2007, barely a week after he had arrived in the country for a three-month attachment.
According to the prosecution, Tichler visited the victim’s father at North Legon, near Redco Flats, on October 13, 2007 and on reaching there, the victim’s father left the victim and her two siblings in the care of Tichler in order to purchase some items from town.
Tichler engaged the victim and her two siblings, aged eight and six, at the sitting room but later managed to engage the victim alone and succeeded in inserting his fingers into her vagina.
Not quiet long after the incident, the victim’s mother arrived from town and just as she entered the kitchen, Tichler followed her and requested for water to wash his hands.
Later, the victim went to her mother and said she wanted to urinate and while helping her, the mother noticed that the victim’s panties had blood stains.
The victim mentioned the accused person as the one who inserted his fingers into her vagina when she was questioned by her mother.
Tichler was arrested and handed over to the Legon police.
The victim was later taken to hospital where she was examined, treated and discharged.