Court: Dad posted rape video

2007-05-03 22:13

Sylvia Hui

Hong Kong - An American accused of raping his daughter and posting a video of the attack online was due to appear in a Hong Kong court on Friday for an extradition hearing, said police.

The 13-month global manhunt for Kenneth John Freeman ended with his arrest in Hong Kong after a struggle that reportedly injured four Chinese police officers after he crossed the border from mainland China.

"Whether or not the arrested person will be extradited back to the US and when that will take place would depend on the progress of judicial proceedings," said Hong Kong police on Thursday.

Dale Kreisher, a spokesperson for the US consulate general in Hong Kong, declined to say if Freeman requested legal assistance from American officials.

"I know they dispatched someone but I don't know whether he chose to meet with them or not," he said

Kreisher said extradition usually takes several months.

'This is awful'

The decision by Freeman's 17-year-old daughter to tell her story on national TV helped connect the case to some of the internet's most notorious molestation videos.

On Wednesday, the girl simply smiled as authorities and family praised her for coming forward and urged others to do the same.

Chris Peale, the girl's stepfather, said: "We want America to know that this is awful.

"This is an awful thing that goes on in our society each and every day.

"Kids are being molested, being raped, and I can't tell you enough how important it is for those families to support those children."

Freeman, a 44-year-old bodybuilder and computer expert, was on the most-wanted lists of the US Marshals Service and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A difficulat arrest

Chinese police arrested him on Tuesday night at a land checkpoint in Hong Kong after he arrived there from mainland China, said a Hong Kong police spokesperson.

Speaking on customary condition of anonymity, the spokesperson added the arrested man resisted, slightly injuring four officers.

The girl appeared on the TV show America's Most Wanted to talk about the case.

Tips to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children after the show aired helped the centre identify the girl as the victim in a series of child pornography videos, according to the Marshals Service.

Video of the abuse is among the most widely downloaded child pornography videos in recent years, said officials.

Faces 'maximum sentence'

Freeman, who was once a volunteer reserve sheriff's deputy, has been charged in Benton County Superior Court with three counts of rape of a child and jumping bail. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Authorities in Turkey, Greece and China tracked Freeman's whereabouts.

Investigators trailed him to Suzhou, a city in China, where he is believed to have been working at the local office of a US-based company.

On the net:

US Marshal Service

America's Most Wanted

- AP