Child sex tourist [in Cambodia] was a 'customer' (sic!), defence argues

Kenneth Klassen tries to hide his face as he arrives at B.C. Supreme Court for the second day of a sentencing hearing related to child-sex tourism in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday, July 23, 2010. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Friday Jul. 23, 2010
The Canadian Press

A Canadian man who admitted having sex with young girls in Colombia and Cambodia was a "customer" of willing participants and not an abuser, says his defence lawyer.

Kenneth Klassen pleaded guilty earlier this year to 14 counts of having sex with underage girls and one count of importing child pornography.

At his sentencing hearing Friday, the 59-year-old Burnaby man's lawyers said the crimes were "consensual" and his prison time should reflect that.

Lawyer Len Doust suggested a five- to six-year term. Prosecutor Brendan McCabe previously asked the court for a 12-year term.

"It would be an error in principle ... to find that (Klassen) is somehow deserving of a more severe sentence because of what is characterized as the abject poverty in some other country or the failure of some other location to provide for its citizens," his other lawyer, Ian Donaldson, told a B.C. Supreme Court judge.

It was wrong for Klassen to have sex with girls the Crown says were as young as eight, Donaldson said, but that shouldn't be a factor in his "moral blame-worthiness."

"If (the girls) had ever said 'No,' he would have stopped," Donaldson said.

Court has heard witness statements from several children saying they were given gifts and cash to buy things like new clothes or soap for their family.

McCabe said Friday that while he can't prove the girls were not sex workers, he believes they were just "inexperienced" children. Video footage shown only to the judge make it "abundantly clear" some of the girls were much younger than age 14, he said.

Klassen's lawyers said he concedes the girls were under age 14, but not that they were as young as eight.

Donaldson told the judge his client will get a "substantial sentence ... no doubt," but he shouldn't get a longer sentence because of the aggravating factors raised by the Crown.

In asking for a more lenient sentence, he said Klassen is willing to attend all rehabilitation programs offered in prison and had no prior criminal record. Klassen hasn't offended in the nearly six years he's been in Canada on bail, either, Donaldson said.

Doust said the offences didn't occur in Canada but in a country where Klassen lived for two decades -- Columbia -- and where sex laws aren't as rigorously enforced, making the acts "quasi-acceptable" in his mind.

"By entering the plea of guilty, this man has publicly acknowledged that he did what he's accused of doing, that he's responsible for it, that he understands and he accepts that his conduct was criminal and that it was morally wrong," Doust said.

And while Donaldson raised no issue with Klassen providing a mandatory DNA sample or having a weapons prohibition, he asked the judge not to impose a lifetime ban on him attending playgrounds or community centres. Donaldson said Klassen has children himself and may eventually have grandchildren.

"He sees what he did was wrong, he sees how to avoid doing that," Donaldson said.

Klassen was arrested in 2004 after he was caught trying to ship homemade DVDs back to Canada with images showing him having sex with prepubescent girls.

The father of three pleaded guilty to the 15 charges in May after a failed constitutional challenge to Canada's child-sex tourism law.

A judge is expected to sentence Klassen on Wednesday.

Two French men sentenced over child sex in Asia

They frequented child prostitures in SE Asia and recorded their encounters.

Thu, Mar 12, 2009

STRASBOURG, FRANCE, March 11, 2009 (AFP) - Two French men accused of frequenting child prostitutes in southeast Asia and recording their encounters were sentenced on Wednesday to the maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

The court in the eastern French town of Colmar also issued fines for Robert Chung, 72, and Jean-Marc Malgarini, 51, of 70,000 and 50,000 euros (90,000 and 64,000 dollars) respectively.

Both were accused of traveling to Cambodia regularly and filming their encounters with girls under 15.

They were prosecuted for having 'solicited, accepted or obtained' sexual relations with prostitutes under 15, as well as for importing and possessing child pornography.

Malgarini told the court he regretted his visits to Cambodia and Thailand - around 30, according to visas found in his passport - but argued that girls there would 'jump' on him.

'You don't realise,' he said. 'When you go there, you suddenly have five or six girls who jump on you.' Questioned about some 20 films seized as well as dozens of photos on his mobile phone showing the suspects with young girls, Chung claimed to have recorded the encounters for 'aesthetic' reasons.

Chung, a former doctor now stripped of his licence, said he was a lover of artistic images.

Malgarini was arrested in 2007 in connection with a probe linked to an Italian paedophile website. Chung was arrested shortly after at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport.

French authorities were able to intervene in the case due to universal jurisdiction for sex tourism allegations, a measure aimed at protecting children.

The two men are also to pay 12,600 euros to children's rights associations.

Sex tourists face UK prosecution

Friday, 11 July 2008
itv.com (UK)

Paedophiles who abuse children abroad will be prosecuted in Britain under new laws that come into force next week.

The legislation allows police to bring charges against "sex tourists" even if their activities were legal in the country where they took place.

It will mean someone who has sex with an under-16 could be prosecuted on their return to the UK even if the child was above the local age of consent.

Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said the law will come into force on Monday.

He said: "I hope this new law will send a tough message to deter travelling sex tourists.

"We already have some of the toughest sex offences legislation in the world but we are determined to do everything we can to protect the most vulnerable, at home and abroad.

"From July 14, anyone who commits an offence against children abroad will face the prospect of prosecution for the same offence here even though it may not have been an offence in that country."

Chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre Jim Gamble said: "No offender should be able to escape to foreign jurisdictions in order to abuse children and young people, or possess images and materials that show sexual exploitation without living in fear of UK police working with their international counterparts to bring that person to account.

"This measure is a significant step forward and sends out a very clear and unequivocal message to offenders everywhere - and no matter whether they are in the UK or abroad - we will track you, we will bring you to account and you will face the consequences of your criminal actions."

NSPCC policy advisor Zoe Hilton said: "These new measures to prosecute those who commit sexual offences abroad are very welcome.

"However, there are still loopholes in the rules which allow sex offenders to slip off and abuse children in other countries. For example, when travelling abroad, offenders only have to notify authorities of the first country they plan to visit.

"This makes it easy for an offender to travel from Europe and then on to countries which have weaker child protection systems like Cambodia or Vietnam.

"It is essential that these new measures should be accompanied by more resources to convict, manage and monitor offenders who go overseas to abuse children."