Paedophile will do more time
2008-11-24 14:08
Bangkok - A Thai court said on Monday it had sentenced a Canadian to six more years in jail for sexually abusing a young boy, in the second guilty verdict handed down to the man caught after a global search.
Christopher Paul Neil, 33, was tracked down to Thailand in October last year after international police agency Interpol reconstructed a series of digitally "swirled" internet images of a man abusing boys.
He was in August sentenced to more than three years in prison for abusing a 13-year-old Thai boy, and on November 14 Neil was found guilty of three more charges of abusing the first victim's brother, who was nine at the time.
Thailand's Criminal Court did not release the verdict until Monday, and said the judge gave the former teacher a nine-year prison sentence for abuse and illegal detention of a minor.
"The suspect co-operated during the trial and his testimony was somewhat useful, therefore the court commuted his sentence by one-third on each count," the court said in a statement, adding Neil would serve six years.
His two sentences will run consecutively, the court said.
Neil was ordered to pay the second boy compensation of $1 420.
He had confessed to molesting the older brother but has denied the charges in his second case.
Neil, originally from suburban Vancouver, was arrested after Interpol launched its first public appeal, seeking help in identifying a man seen in about 200 graphic online photographs abusing Asian boys.
The man in the pictures had created a digital swirl to hide his face but German computer experts were able to reconstruct the images.
Neil had come to Bangkok to get a teaching job. One official at a school where he sought work described him as an introvert who was not hired because he had difficulty co-operating with school officials and other teachers.
Child welfare advocates initially hailed Neil's arrest as a sign Thailand was working to overcome its reputation as a haven for paedophiles and other fugitives, but said he should have received a tougher sentence in August.
- AFP