Gerard Kusterer
THE 79–year-old German tourist, Gerard Kusterer, accused of defiling a 14-year-old pupil, was yesterday granted bail at an Accra circuit court.
The court, presided over by Sedina Agbemava, granted him a GH?30,000 bail with three sureties, one to be justified, after it observed that the court had not been able to obtain a German interpreter for trial to commence.
His lawyer, Raymond Bagnabu, moved that the accused person be granted bail after the judge indicated that a letter had been sent for a German interpreter but one had not been obtained yet.
Counsel?s plea for bail was on grounds that the accused who had denied the offence was aged and unhealthy.
Mr. Bagnabu explained that Gerard Kusterer, whose passport was with the police, could not escape and was ready to avail himself anytime he was wanted.
ASP Sarah Acquah, prosecuting, informed the judge that there was a lady in the courtroom who could serve as German interpreter but the judge declined using her, saying the prosecution should wait till they exhausted all avenues of getting an interpreter.
In her ruling on the bail application, Ms Agbemava indicated that since an interpreter had not been obtained and the plea of the accused had not been taken in the fresh charges, she felt it was fair to grant the accused bail.
On the last adjourned date, ASP Acquah substituted the old charge sheet with a new one but the accused person?s plea could not be taken in English language.
The judge ordered the court registry to get a German interpreter for the accused after proceedings had to come to an abrupt end because there was no interpreter to explain the charges to the accused person who said he did not understand the English language properly.
The accused person was previously charged with three counts of abduction of unmarried female under 18, defilement and obscenity.
The new charge sheet maintained the first two charges but the charge of obscenity which he had pleaded guilty to was replaced with a new charge of gross indecency yesterday.
The case has been adjourned to July 17.
The German tourist was arrested by the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) recently for allegedly defiling a 14-year-old pupil.
The prosecutor, ASP Sarah Acquah, stated that the complainant was a security officer and a brother to the victim who lived with their parents at Amarhia, Accra.
According to the prosecutor, Mr Kusterer, 79, was arrested at Mascot Hotel where he was lodging.
He was said to have taken the victim to the hotel on May 25, after meeting her at La Beach.
The accused person allegedly kept the victim for days and had sexual intercourse with her in the room.
On June 13, 2012 at about 5:35pm, after Gerard had had sexual intercourse with the victim, he allegedly used his Fuji digital camera to take nude pictures of the victim and stored them on the camera.
The prosecutor added that on June 15, 2012, the victim fell sick and she managed to run away from the hotel room.
When she got home, she narrated her ordeal to her brother who reported the matter to DOVVSU where the complainant was issued with a police medical report form to send the victim to hospital for examination.
The police, the complainant and the victim went to Mascot Hotel to arrest the accused.
In his caution statement, Gerard allegedly denied having sexual intercourse with the victim but admitted to taking nude pictures of the victim and other young girls and stored them on his camera.
By Mary Anane
