British man in Ghana jail appeal

Accra, July 14, GNA - Thomas Allan Tichler, the 57-year-old Briton who was convicted for sexually assaulting the three-year-old daughter of his Ghanaian host, on Monday appeared before an Accra High Court to appeal against his conviction.

The grounds of his appeal are that the verdict of the Circuit Court was unreasonable and could not be supported having regard to the evidence available.

Tichler, a consultant was charged with causing harm and indecently assaulting the girl.

He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Mr Tony Lithur, counsel for Tichler, moving the motion, said the court in holding that the accused committed the offence contemporaneously with the carrying of the alleged victim on his shoulders, erred by substituting her case for that of the prosecution. Mr Lithur said the trial judge also erred in disregarding the medical evidence of Dr Emmanuel Sokpenyo, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, from the Ridge Hospital, which cast sufficient doubt on the prosecution's case regarding the cause of the victim's bleeding. He said the court failed to draw the proper inferences from the totality of the medical evidence adduced during the trial and that the immediate cause of the victim's bleeding was not supported by any medical evidence available during the trial. Counsel said the court failed to pay proper or sufficient regard to the numerous conflicts in the prosecution's case and thus relied heavily on the testimony of the victim.

Mr Lithur also said that the trial judge was wrong in saying that neither Kwabena, the house-boy, nor the workmen were present during the time the accused was in the house without the victim's mother and brother and that the workmen were not material witnesses. He further submitted that the court relied on the evidence of Detective Chief Inspector, Kwasi Atakpalai, the investigator on the case, in proof of the guilt of the accused when it was clear from the evidence that he could not have been present when the victim allegedly accused the appellant of the crime.