Paedophile gets 37 years
2009-07-16 13:05
Bangkok - A Thai criminal court in Bangkok on Thursday sentenced a Dutch man to 37 years in prison for illegal detention and sexual abuse of a Thai boy, a court official said.
Willem Gerard Knoppien was sentenced alongside Thai national Thanes Bualuang, 35, who was convicted of procurement and handed a jail term of 26 years and eight months.
The court ruling said Knoppien, thought to be 52-years-old, had taken a 12-year-old boy from his parents for sexual abuse in the Thai Gulf town of Hua Hin on several occasions between March and December 2007, before his arrest.
"The pair were found guilty of taking the young boy from his parents and sexually abusing him.... Knoppien was sentenced to 37 years, while the Thai procurer was sentenced to 26 years and eight months," an official reading the court verdict said.
Knoppien now has 30 days to lodge an appeal against the sentence.
- SAPA
