William Yaw Owusu
Saturday November 9, 2007
An Accra Circuit Court yesterday decided to hear in camera, the evidence of the three-year old girl who was indecently assaulted by a 57-year-old Briton at North Legon, Accra, on October 13.
This followed a request by the prosecutor, Ms Barbara Sackey, that the court should sit in camera to protect the victim due to her age.
The court, presided over by Mrs Georgina Mensah-Datsa however decided that evidence from other prosecution witnesses will be taken in open court.
Mr Ellis Owusu Fordjuor, counsel for the accused, Thomas Alan Tichler, had opposed the in-camera sitting.
He said “it is the practice that the case of a minor should not be heard in an open court but for other potential witnesses I do not see any justification for the request”.
He said the case has received “a bad prejudicial publicity and we would like proceedings to be heard in open court for us to prove our innocence”.
After ruling on the matter, the court relocated to the judge’s chamber.
Tichler, a consultant, was said to have inserted his fingers into the girl’s private parts, causing her to bleed profusely.
He has pleaded not guilty to causing unlawful harm and indecent assault. He is in police custody.
The case for the prosecution is that on October 13, the accused visited the girl’s father at North Legon, Accra and the father left the girl and her siblings in the care of Tichler in order to run some errands.
Tichler allegedly engaged the girl and her two siblings in the sitting room and later the girl alone and committed the act.
The girls’ mother arrived from town afterwards and Tichler followed her to the kitchen to request for water to wash his hands.
Later, the girl went to her mother and requested to urinate and while helping her, the mother noticed blood strains in the girl’s under pants.
When questioned, the girl told her mother about what Tichler had done.
Tichler was later arrested by the police and the girl was taken to hospital, treated and discharged.
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