Story: Stephen Sah
BRITISH PAEDOPHILE OPENS DEFENCE

THE 57-year-old Briton accused of indecently assaulting a three-year-old girl, attributed an inconsistency in statements he made to the police to a severe assault by the victim’s father.
“I was shocked and suffered concussion, a blurred vision and was confused by the assault upon me”, Thomas Alan Tichler, the accused person said of his state of mind at the time of making his first statement to the police after the incident.
He was answering questions on Wednesday under cross-examination from Ms Babara Sackey, a State Attorney, as to whether he still relied on statements that he made to the police.
The prosecutor had put it to Tichler that in his first statement to the police he claimed to have rinsed his hands after he had visited the toilet, while in subsequent ones he stated in the negative.
Prosecutor: So you want this court to believe that it was shock that made you not to write the truth in the first statement?
Accused: It is not that I did not write the truth. I made an error in the way I recalled the incident and I can assure you that it is an extremely frightening feeling to be thrown in jail following an assault at false accusation.
Prosecutor: Why did you not state that you made a mistake in your later statement?
Accused: It is because I have been advised in my caution statement that I am able to correct earlier statements and you will see that I have done so in subsequent statements.
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.
He also said that on the particular weekend that the alleged incident happened, his other volunteer colleagues from the Volunteer Overseas Service (VSO) were going to watch a rugby match between England and Argentina, which he would have preferred to watch but in the interest of his relationship with his host, he abandoned the idea.
Tichler agreed with the prosecutor that after visiting the toilet, he did not wash his hands and according to him, there was no facility for him to wash his hands.
When the prosecutor suggested to him that in spite of his inability to wash his hands after visiting the toilet, he ate crackers and drank minerals in the residence of his host, Tichler replied that he felt very uncomfortable without having been able to freshen up and also embarrassed to ask for things not offered to him.
The accused did not agree with the prosecutor that he went to the kitchen to ask for water from the girl’s mother after he had inserted his fingers into the girl’s vagina.
“ There came a point towards the end of the meeting when I became aware that the girl’s mother was fetching water to wash the children’s pants and I took that opportunity to ask if I could also wash my hands and as to whether soap was available,” he said.