'No proof of sex claims'
2005-11-23 11:22
Ho Chi Minh City - The newly appointed attorney for ex-British rocker Gary Glitter said on Wednesday he is seeking his client's release from detention, saying there is no evidence Glitter had sex with minors.
Le Thanh Kinh, managing partner at Ho Chi Minh City-based Le Nguyen Law Office, said Glitter retained him as legal counsel after they met in the morning.
"All the evidence now is just hearsay. What newspapers reported is just hearsay but there has not been any medical certificates to prove there was child sex abuse and how it was conducted," Kinh said. "Hearsay is not considered to be proof in court."
The two discussed ways to get Glitter released from the prison near the seaside resort of Vung Tau where he has been detained since the weekend, he said.
"The detention will expire on Monday but I am trying to work on procedures to bail him out before that period," Kinh said.
Glitter not charged
Glitter, 61, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was detained by immigration officials on Saturday at the international airport in Ho Chi Minh City as he was trying to leave the country amid allegations that he had committed lewd acts with minors at his home in the coastal city of Vung Tau.
Glitter has not been charged with any crime. He was turned over to the custody of provincial police in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, who can detain him for up to nine days without charging him.
Under Vietnamese law, no financial guarantee, or bail, is needed to obtain release from police custody as long as the person in question can prove that the release will not affect ongoing criminal investigations and they are not a flight risk.
More girls questioned
Earlier this week, police said two girls, 12 and 18, had claimed in interviews they had sex with Glitter at his home in this seaside resort town. The girls' statements are being investigated, police said.
The official English-language Vietnam News reported the girls told police Glitter had "promised to teach us English and to help us to study overseas."
Under Vietnamese law, sexual contact with a minor under the age of 18 carries varying penalties, depending on the charge. Child rape carries the maximum penalty of death before a firing squad.
State-controlled media reported on Wednesday that police have identified and interviewed up to 10 Vietnamese girls who had contact with Glitter, some of them juveniles from Vung Tau and the southern Mekong Delta provinces of Can Tho and An Giang, which borders Cambodia.
The Labour and Young People newspapers said police investigators had tracked down the girls, who alleged they were paid to have sex multiple times with Glitter at his home and in hotels.
Provincial police were completing procedures to take the girls for medical checks to determine whether Glitter had sexually abused them, the newspapers said.
- AP