Victim identified accused as "Uncle Tom"

Accra, Dec. 17 GNA - Police Detective Lance Corporal Ransford Odei Djabah, who is with the Domestic Violence Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) on Monday told an Accra circuit court that the three-year old girl who was allegedly defiled by Thomas Allan Tichler identified the accused as "Uncle Tom".

He said he asked the victim whether she knew the accused and she answered in the affirmative.

Lance Corporal Djabah was being cross-examined by Mr Ellis Owusu Fordjour, Lead Counsel for Thomas Allan Tichler. The 57-year-old Briton is standing trial for allegedly fingering a three-year-old daughter of his Ghanaian host.

Thomas Alan Tichler, a Consultant has been charged with causing harm and indecent assault and defiling the victim. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The Court, presided over by Mrs. Georgina Mensah-Datsa adjourned the case to December 20, 2007.

Lance Corporal Djabah said a bloodstained panties and T-shirt together with the accused were brought to DVVSU to the effect that the accused had indecently assaulted the victim.

He said the case was referred to him to further investigate it. He said he interviewed the accused on the issue but the accused said he could not say anything further unless he spoke to his lawyers. He said on October 19, he went to complainant's house together with the accused.

He said when they got to the complainant's house he brought the victim from the room and through his interview with the victim she identified Tichler as "Uncle Tom".

Lance Corporal Djabah said the little girl showed him the table and chairs that she and the accused were playing with. He said the victim pointed at the accused's right fingers as the one he inserted into her vagina.

He said he asked the accused if what the victim was saying was true but he denied it.

The facts of the case are that Tichler visited the victim's father at North Legon, near the Redco Flats on October 13, 2007. The victim's father left the victim and her two siblings in the care of Tichler to purchase some items from town.

Tichler decided to play with the victim and her two siblings, aged eight and six years respectively, in the living room but he later managed to get the victim alone and proceeded to insert his fingers into her genitals.

Not long after, 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 bloodstains in the victim's panties.

The victim mentioned the accused person as the one who inserted his fingers into her genitals when her mother questioned her.