A public official to testify in Tichler's case

Accra, Jan. 9, GNA - The lawyers of Thomas Allan Tichler, the 57-year-old Briton who allegedly fingered the three-year-old daughter of his Ghanaian host on Wednesday informed the Court that they would invite a public official to testify in the case. They said they would furnish the court with more information on the person in order for him to be summoned to appear in court. Thomas Alan Tichler, a Consultant is charged with causing harm and indecent assault to a kid and defiling her.

He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The Court, presided over by Mrs. Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa adjourned the case to January 11, this year. Ms Barbara Sackey, a Senior State Attorney during her cross-examination of the accused suggested to Allan Tichler that he took advantage of the vulnerability of the victim (PW2) among her siblings and inserted her fingers into her genitals, which he denied. She said because the victim was the youngest of the children the accused took advantage of her, disregarding her plea to him to stop, which he also denied.

Ms Barbara also stated that before the accused went to the house of his Ghanaian host he already knew the ages of the three children and had made the victim his target, which he also denied. She said Allan Tichler asked the victim's mother for water to wash his hands because by then the accused had inserted his hands into the victim's genitals and wanted the water to clean the blood stain evidence from his hands. He denied. Allan Tichler said he had not caused damage to the genitals of the victim that caused the urethra to bleed. He said he only washed his hands when the children's mother was fetching water to bath them and if anything their mother should have detected it.

Evidence before the court is that Allan Tichler visited the victim's father at North Legon, near the Redco Flats on October 13, 2007. The victim's father left her and two siblings in the care of Allan Tichler to purchase some items from town. Allan Tichler played with the victim and her two siblings, aged eight and six, in the living room but he later got the victim alone and inserted his fingers into her genitals. The victim's mother arrived from town and just as she entered the kitchen, Allan 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 bloodstains in the victim's panties. The victim mentioned the accused person as the one who inserted his fingers into her.