Belgian paedophile [Philippe Dessart] expelled from Cambodia

Wed, 23 Sep 2009
By Jean Gerrard
DPA

Phnom Penh - A Belgian man convicted twice for child sex offences was expelled from Cambodia seven weeks after a coalition of child protection organizations petitioned authorities to expel him, a media report said Wednesday. Philippe Dessart, 49, was put on a plane to Thailand last week, the Cambodia Daily newspaper reported.

"We had enough legal grounds," the national police spokesman told the newspaper. "We didn't decide to deport him to Belgium; we just decided that he should be out of our country. Wherever he went to, it was his right."

Dessart was released from a Cambodian jail in April having spent three years in prison for sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy. On his release, he sparked outrage from child protection organizations by marrying the boy's mother after moving into her home in western Cambodia.

Dessart was previously convicted of child sex offences in his native Belgium, serving time there in the 1990s for child rape and torture.

Dessart's lawyer said his client's deportation was an abuse of his rights.

"He was with his wife; police came to invite him to a commune police station telling him that the national commissioner orders you to be expelled," Dun Vibol told the newspaper. "[On arrival in Thailand Dessart] called me saying he's got nothing with him and said they don't respect the law in Cambodia."

Belgian man dies in Cambodian bike accident

Sunday, December 28, 2008
The China Post

PHNOM PENH -- A Belgian man has died in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh after driving under the influence of alcohol without a helmet and crashing into a truck, police said Saturday. Van Esbroeck Guido's 44-year-old Cambodian wife told police Thursday she had earlier refused to ride pillion on her husband's bike when he fell off after drinking.

Police said the 48-year-old Belgian continued driving alone and later crashed into a truck as it left a construction site.

“He was very drunk while driving, didn't have on a helmet and later crashed into a truck that didn't give a signal when it turned,” said traffic police chief Tin Prasoeur.

15 Years Reduced in Pedophile Appeal [-Sex crimes jail sentences are short in Cambodia]

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
26 August 2008

The Appeals Court on Wednesday reduced the sentence of a Belgian man convicted of indecent acts with a minor by 15 years Tuesday, based on the enactment of a new anti-trafficking law.

Phillipe Dessart, 46, was arrested in April 2006 and convicted of indecent acts with a 14-year-old boy at a guesthouse in Phnom Penh. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced Dassat to 18 years in prison under a previous statute.

Appeals Court Judge Um Sarith upheld the guilty verdict of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, but he said Article 43 of the "Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation" called for a sentence of only three years.

Dassat was also fined 6 million riel, or $15,000. The three-year sentence and fine are the maximum allowed under the new law.

Nou Chantha, lawyer for the accused, said Tuesday he was "satisfied" with the reduction of the sentence.

Samleang Seila, country director for the anti-trafficking group Action Pour Les Enfants, said the new law did not signal a strong intention to stop acts of pedophilia.

Imprisonments for sexual acts are "short," he said, calling for further amendments to the law.

The new law, which was enacted in trafficking, calls for five to 10 years in prison for sexual acts with minors and up to 3 years for indecent acts.

Under the old law, indecent acts could lead to a prison sentence of up to 20 years, Samleang Seila said.

The number of pedophile cases against underage boys was lower in 2008 compared to 2006 and 2007, Keo Thia, deputy chief of the anti-trafficking and juvenile protection unit of the Phnom Penh police, said Tuesday.

"The criminals seem to be afraid of our police, who have cracked down on many pedophile cases," he said.

Police have made three arrests of suspected foreign pedophiles since January, he added.

Cambodian court cuts Belgian paedophile's sentence

Tuesday, August 26, 2008
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

A Cambodian court cut a convicted Belgian paedophile's prison sentence from 18 years to three years, citing a change in child abuse laws.

Philippe Dessart, 48, was arrested in 2006 in a Phnom Penh guesthouse with a naked 13-year-old boy in his room. He was charged with debauchery and sentenced the same year to 18 years in jail.

The Court of Appeals reduced his sentence after downgrading the charges against Dessart from debauchery to indecent acts against minors.

"The court found Philippe Dessart guilty of committing indecent acts,'' judge Um Sarith said.

Cambodia used to apply its debauchery law to almost all sex crimes, but has recently updated its statutes to include the new charge of indecent acts.