ZCZC
BFF-24
NEPAL-AUSTRALIA-CHILDREN-CRIME
Nepal searches for more child abuse victims of arrested Australian
KATHMANDU, July 24, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Nepalese police on Wednesday were
searching for more child victims of an Australian arrested for allegedly
abusing two boys, the latest foreigner to be accused of paedophilia in the
Himalayan country.
The 62-year-old paragliding pilot was arrested Tuesday after police raided
his rented house in the tourist town of Pokhara following a tip-off.
Police said the pilot, who had been working in Nepal for three years, was
caught “red-handed” with two boys aged 12 and 14.
“He has been living here so we need to investigate if there are other
victims or if he is connected with a network of paedophiles,” local police
official Dan Bahadur Karki told AFP.
Weak law enforcement has made Nepal notorious for sexual predators, with
several arrests and convictions in recent years.
The suspects often target children from poor families, luring them with
gifts or with promises to support their education.
Last year at least four foreigners were arrested in child sexual abuse
cases, while a British man was arrested in January. Earlier this month,
former United Nations official Peter Dalglish was sentenced to nine years in
jail for sexually abusing two boys.
In 2015, 71-year-old Canadian orphanage volunteer Ernest MacIntosh was sent
to prison for seven years for sexually abusing a disabled 15-year-old boy.
And in 2010, French charity worker Jean-Jacques Haye was convicted of
raping 10 children at a Kathmandu orphanage.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1436 hrs