T.O. woman gets justice in Cambodia — finally

Rape victim's fight makes legal history

Returns to see attacker lose his appeal

Apr. 18, 2006
OLIVIA WARD
FEATURE WRITER
Toronto Star (Canada)

Hannah had reason to celebrate when she left Cambodia in September 2004: the 25-year-old Toronto woman had made legal history by winning a conviction against a Cambodian military policeman who raped her at gunpoint at a beach resort south of Phnom Penh.

The case was a high-profile one that reversed a precedent: in Cambodia the rape of a mature woman was not regarded as a crime by the courts, and few victims had the courage to make their plight public.

But once back in Toronto, Hannah (not her real name) heard the bad news.

The rapist — sentenced to 15 years in prison — had appealed the judgment. If she did not make the costly and difficult trip back to Cambodia for the appeal hearing, he might be released.

"I felt that I had no choice," she said. "It wasn't just for me, but for other women who might have the same terrible experience. He shouldn't be allowed to go free."

With the help of relatives who donated air miles points, and the legal support of the University of Toronto law faculty's international human rights clinic, run by Noah Novogrodsky, she made the trip back to Cambodia for the March 7 hearing.

"It took me 51 hours to get from my apartment to a friend's place in Phnom Penh. But once I arrived, I was glad to be back."

The adventurous young English-language teacher made her first trip to Cambodia in the spring of 2004 when she decided to see the country on her way back from a teaching job in Korea.

The trip ended in disaster when she was seized one night at a beach resort near Sihanoukville and sexually assaulted by a machine-gun-toting policeman. The experience left her physically and emotionally traumatized — but determined to see justice done.

With the verdict a few months later, she thought her ordeal would be over.

But her rapist's decision to appeal forced Hannah to relive the horrifying experience, as she had to face him again in court.

"I didn't feel edgy about it this time," she said. "I knew what to expect, and I had friends and a place to stay."

To fight the original case she had to learn about the Cambodian legal system, one that was prey to bribery and corruption, as well as often indifferent to female victims.

Hannah received congratulations from human rights groups, and many Star readers, for her courage in facing the rapist in court and refusing to abandon the case in spite of diplomatic advice to simply leave the country.

The U of T law clinic helped to prepare her for the appeal, sending a student to witness the courtroom proceedings. And she had legal aid from the Cambodian advocacy group LICADHO, which defends victims of state-related injustices.

They found her a translator, and lawyer Sin Soworn of the Cambodian Defenders Project represented her.

But, Hannah said, "the hearing was postponed because the perpetrator wasn't there. They might have carried on without him, but that would mean he could appeal to the Supreme Court. If he had done that, the case would be handed over again to the appeal court at a later date."

Bizarrely, to avoid the possibility that Hannah would be forced to make yet another trip back to Cambodia in the future, her lawyer had to argue for the right of the defendant to be properly represented. The judge agreed to set a new date in two weeks time, while Hannah was still in the country.

But, Hannah discovered, it was still uncertain whether the rapist would appear in court.

"In Cambodia, prisoners have to arrange their own transportation to court. And there have been cases where the prison just opens the doors and says `go there.'"

But he did appear, and took his place at one of two microphones in front of the panel of three judges.

"The fact he was in the courtroom didn't intimidate me," she said. "When the case started I could see the defence didn't really have any arguments. He had the same lawyer, who knew the case. But his defence was that he didn't do it."

The rapist had been caught soon after Hannah reported the crime to the Phnom Penh police, and he made a full confession to them. They also found Hannah's money and photographs when they arrested him. But in court later, he denied that he was guilty.

At the 3 1/2-hour appeal hearing, the judge was not sympathetic. "Mistakes can happen (but) it is important to change," he warned the rapist, who showed no remorse. "You will have 15 to 20 years to change yourself."

During the 10-minute break for deliberations, Hannah was left in the small courtroom with her advocates and the rapist, an uncomfortable feature of Cambodian justice. "He glared at me but it didn't matter. I wasn't frightened of him," she said.

Once again, the court found in Hannah's favour. The man was removed to jail to serve the rest of his sentence. Hannah packed her suitcase and left the country the same night.

"Hannah deserves congratulations for having faith in a universal sense of justice, no matter how difficult it seemed at the time," said Novogrodsky. "She played a splendid role in getting a test case affirmed on appeal. She helped to get a measure of justice for a truly horrendous crime."

And, he said, a support team of four female U of T law students working behind the scenes also played a strong role. So did the determination of Cambodian human rights groups who supported Hannah through the ordeal.

As a result, human rights have taken a step forward in the war-shattered country. "Hannah's legacy will hopefully be a better standard of justice and increased awareness of how women are treated in the courts. I hope the next case (that's won) will be for an assault on a Cambodian woman."

Back in Toronto, Hannah is packing once more, this time for law school in British Columbia. One day, she says, she might return to Cambodia and work for the legal rights of women.

"I may have ended up going in the same direction without this event," she said. "But there's no doubt it helped to push me there."