The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A Cambodian court sentenced a Swiss man to 11 years in prison Tuesday for sexually abusing a 12-year-old Cambodian girl.
Hurni Hans Ulrich, 68, from Basel, Switzerland, was found guilty Friday of debauchery, a Cambodian legal term for sex offenses involving minors.
Municipal court judge Chan Madina handed down the sentence Tuesday and ordered Ulrich to pay 5 million riels (US$1,250; €950) in compensation to the girl's parents.
She said Ulrich had paid the girl and her parents to serve his "sexual lust" and that his act was damaging to Cambodia's traditional values.
Ulrich denied the charges against him, saying he had never mistreated the girl and had spent more than US$1,000 (€760) to help the family and provide for her school expenses.
"I have never abused her. She was happy to stay with me," he told reporters outside the courthouse, adding that the child "feels love" for him.
He said he plans to appeal the verdict.
Ulrich was arrested in September, when police received a tip and raided his Phnom Penh hotel room where they found him naked with the girl. Ulrich had met the child during a visit a few years earlier when she was selling candy on a Phnom Penh street.
Child rights advocates say lax law enforcement in Cambodia has made the country a destination for foreign pedophiles. Police have recently stepped up arrests and prosecution of offenders.
Hurni Hans Ulrich, 68, from Basel, Switzerland, was found guilty Friday of debauchery, a Cambodian legal term for sex offenses involving minors.
Municipal court judge Chan Madina handed down the sentence Tuesday and ordered Ulrich to pay 5 million riels (US$1,250; €950) in compensation to the girl's parents.
She said Ulrich had paid the girl and her parents to serve his "sexual lust" and that his act was damaging to Cambodia's traditional values.
Ulrich denied the charges against him, saying he had never mistreated the girl and had spent more than US$1,000 (€760) to help the family and provide for her school expenses.
"I have never abused her. She was happy to stay with me," he told reporters outside the courthouse, adding that the child "feels love" for him.
He said he plans to appeal the verdict.
Ulrich was arrested in September, when police received a tip and raided his Phnom Penh hotel room where they found him naked with the girl. Ulrich had met the child during a visit a few years earlier when she was selling candy on a Phnom Penh street.
Child rights advocates say lax law enforcement in Cambodia has made the country a destination for foreign pedophiles. Police have recently stepped up arrests and prosecution of offenders.
1 comment:
Good news. Need more prosecutions like this every day.
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