By Prak Chan Thul and Douglas Gillison
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
Phnom Penh Municipal Court Friday sentenced Belgian Philippe Dessart to 18 years in prison for child sex abuse, finding that the 47-year-old former teacher was an incorrigible repeat sex offender.
Stooping at the dock, Dessart appeared stunned but showed little emotion as Judge Ke Sakhorn read out the verdict but family members of Dessart's 14year-old Cambodian victim burst into tears.
Dessart shouted "I am not guilty!" as he was led to a prison van.
Tep Monycheath, one of the four lawyers representing Dessart, said he would appeal the verdict.
A Belgian court convicted Dessart of child rape and torture in 1994, sentencing him to five years, of which he served three.
Frederic Huyghe said after Friday's trial that his brother Pierre, one of Dessart's three Belgian victims, had expressed relief when told of the verdict but felt concern for the family of his Cambodian victim. "I know it ate at my father for years," Huyghe said.
Dessart was arrested April 10 at a Phnom Penh guesthouse in the company of a boy, then 13 years old, who authorities said was naked and had engaged in sexual relations with Dessart for two to three years.
In his verdict, Ke Sakhorn said Dessart paid the victim's family for access to the boy, whom he repeatedly abused. The Belgian had recanted an incriminating confession to police in an effort to escape prosecution, the judge said. "Philippe Dessart was incorrigible when he came to Cambodia and committed debauchery against the boy," he added.
Dessart's defense team had hammered away at length at the prosecution's case, pointing out that all testimony implicating Dessart had been recanted and that police searched Dessart's room without a warrant and provided no physical evidence. Dessart testified that police had offered to help him if he confessed to the crime.
However Keo Thea, deputy director of the municipal anti-trafficking police, said Dessart had freely confessed during interrogation and even acted out his relations with the boy.
"He said he wanted to marry [the boy] and I said only in the future when he becomes an adult," Keo Thea testified.
Stooping at the dock, Dessart appeared stunned but showed little emotion as Judge Ke Sakhorn read out the verdict but family members of Dessart's 14year-old Cambodian victim burst into tears.
Dessart shouted "I am not guilty!" as he was led to a prison van.
Tep Monycheath, one of the four lawyers representing Dessart, said he would appeal the verdict.
A Belgian court convicted Dessart of child rape and torture in 1994, sentencing him to five years, of which he served three.
Frederic Huyghe said after Friday's trial that his brother Pierre, one of Dessart's three Belgian victims, had expressed relief when told of the verdict but felt concern for the family of his Cambodian victim. "I know it ate at my father for years," Huyghe said.
Dessart was arrested April 10 at a Phnom Penh guesthouse in the company of a boy, then 13 years old, who authorities said was naked and had engaged in sexual relations with Dessart for two to three years.
In his verdict, Ke Sakhorn said Dessart paid the victim's family for access to the boy, whom he repeatedly abused. The Belgian had recanted an incriminating confession to police in an effort to escape prosecution, the judge said. "Philippe Dessart was incorrigible when he came to Cambodia and committed debauchery against the boy," he added.
Dessart's defense team had hammered away at length at the prosecution's case, pointing out that all testimony implicating Dessart had been recanted and that police searched Dessart's room without a warrant and provided no physical evidence. Dessart testified that police had offered to help him if he confessed to the crime.
However Keo Thea, deputy director of the municipal anti-trafficking police, said Dessart had freely confessed during interrogation and even acted out his relations with the boy.
"He said he wanted to marry [the boy] and I said only in the future when he becomes an adult," Keo Thea testified.
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