Glitter pays families $2 000

2005-12-27 14:11

Hanoi - Disgraced former glam rock king Gary Glitter has paid $2 000 each to the families of two Vietnamese girls, ages 11 and 12, who had accused him of coercing them into sex, police and his lawyer said on Tuesday.

The families have since written to police asking for a reduced sentence for Glitter on current charges of "lewd acts with a minor," not the child rape charge that police were also investigating, according to lawyer Le Thanh Kinh.

Police and prosecutors said this week they had finished their investigations and would not file child rape charges, though Glitter still will be prosecuted for the lesser lewd acts charge.

As a result, the 61-year-old former singer, who was convicted of child pornography in his native Britain, would likely get as little as six months in prison instead of the death penalty he might have faced on child rape charges, the lawyer said.

"Gary Glitter told me to do anything to reduce the sentence and said he will pay money to do that," Kinh told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Tuesday. "Two weeks ago, I gave the families of the two girls $2 000 each."

The former singer will plead innocent to the molestation charge when he goes to trial, the lawyer said.

No evidence

"The compensation doesn't mean that he will plead guilty," Kinh said. "Gary said that he has not done anything so he won't plead guilty."

In Vietnam, any sex with a child under age 16 is considered child rape. Initial medical tests indicated neither the 11-year-old nor that 12-year-old was a virgin. At the time, police said that both girls said it was Glitter who had had intercourse with them.

However, police said this week that they have completed their investigations and would recommend that no child rape charges be pursued because there is no evidence proving that it was Glitter who had sex with the girls.

- SAPA