Ausie falsely accused of rape (PP)

[BuffHello]

Updated:2006-06-01 04:45:07

Cambodian girls accuse women's group of coercing rape testimony against

Australian

By SOPHENG CHEANG

AP

 

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Nine Cambodian girls on Thursday recanted

their accusations against a convicted Australian rapist, saying that a

nonprofit women's group abused and coerced them into giving testimony

that led to his conviction three years ago.

 

The girls told Cambodia's Appeals Court that 39-year-old Bart Lauwaert

was innocent.

 

Lauwaert is appealing his 2003 rape conviction and a 20-year prison

sentence. The girls were between 14 and 18 years old when he allegedly

abused them, and two of them worked as maids at his house in Siem Reap

until his arrest in 2002.

 

But in an unusual twist Thursday, the girls said they were coerced by

the nonprofit Cambodian Women's Crisis Center (CWCC), which had

provided them with shelter, into accusing Lauwaert of raping them.

 

"Bart is innocent. He is like a Buddhist monk," Khoeun Savy, now 18.

 

"I am dropping the charge against him because he never raped me. At the

provincial court, the organization (CWCC) made me say he had raped me,"

she added.

 

Hoeung Kieng, also believed to be in her late teens, said the CWCC

"detained me at their center for six months and mentally tortured me by

not letting us out of the compound."

 

Oung Chanthol, the CWCC director, said the girls were originally

brought to her center in Siem Reap by provincial police, who had

received complaints about sexual abuse inside Lauwaert's residence. The

nonprofit CWCC was established in 1997 to combat violence against women

and children.

 

She said the girls had remained consistent in their original

allegations against Lauwaert up through the trial in early 2003.

 

"For me, it is regretful that the children have been manipulated," Oung

Chanthol said. "This is not a usual case. Money must have been

involved. They have been instigated into changing their stories."

 

The nine alleged victims attended Thursday's hearing without any legal

representation. They were accompanied by their parents and denied they

had been bribed by the defense to drop their complaints against

Lauwaert.

 

Saly Theara, who led the three-judge Appeals Court panel, adjourned the

hearing until June 9 to announce the verdict.

 

After the hearing, Lauwaert, who was born in Belgium, said he was

"totally innocent."

 

"I never abused or raped anyone," he said. "No one ever complained

against me until the CWCC kidnapped the girls (from) my house, and they

offered them money to complain against foreigners."

 

Oung Chanthol flatly denied the allegation.

[bust]

Even if it wasn't rape sounds like he may have been sexually abusing underage girls. Curious as to why they threw the Belgium angle in???

[Guest]

twat i like the smell of pussy fuckin weirdo cunt

[Fatbastard]

Such an elequent well crafted & thoughtful post deserves a response. THe CWCC has implicated some others with similar accusations. There is a Kiwi guy in Jail who suffered the fate with accusations from young girls who were shaped by the CWCC. If you read the "internet defence" put up by his supporters which includes testimony from the girls he was supposed to have molested you would have to have serious doubts about his guilt.

[lembeh]

 

Hmmmm. Looks murky anyway you read it. Perhaps we should note that employing 14 to 18 year olds as maids in Cambo was not the smartest thing to do.

-j-

[MaiLuk]

If 9 girls recanted then the whole proceeding was a farce. The problem though is that once allegations are made people want to believe them and its almost impossible to convince people otherwise (as demonstrated by comments in this thread). I recall this case from a few months back. The judge in the case was alleged to have offered to buy the aussie's property at some ridiculously low price. Defendant refused and the charges soon followed.

 

So the lesson may not be to not hire young maids but rather don't own property in Cambo.

[lembeh]

 

Well, you can see it the way you want, but have to re-state that having young girls around the house was a dumb thing to do and gave an opening that could be used.

 

Of course I am sure that the "recanting" in your version of event was in no way financially motivated, but simply from a desire to see justice done. yeah.

-j-

[the_numbers]

You can pay people to accuse. You can pay people to recant. In fact you can pay for most whatever you want. It is Cambodia guilt is just about how connected you are or how deep your pockets are..

 

Cheers,

 

the_numbers

[PhilAnders]

 

 

What's the punishment for falsely accusing someone or filing a false report with the police?

[BuffHello]

Sex-convict Lauwaert not as lucky as his housemate

 

 

By Esther McLaren

 

 

It's June 8, the day before his Appeal Court verdict, and Bart Lauwaert

sits at a gray stone table outside the Phnom Penh Central Police

Station holding cells. A few meters away, behind a barbed wire fence,

Khmer prisoners fill out their exercise time in a small, grimy yard.

Some jog in circles or stretch their limbs while others sit in the

shade, their eyes glazed as they presumably imagine themselves

somewhere, anywhere, else.

 

In the shade of an overgrown tree, Lauwaert rests his hands neatly on

the table in front of him. He occasionally leafs through the sheaf of

papers he has brought with him to point something out or clarify a

detail. A small, blonde man in a short-sleeved shirt and thin black

glasses, he has clearly taken care to maintain a neat appearance. Even

after more than three years in Siem Reap prison he looks surprisingly

well, and younger than his 39 years.

 

'Victim of corruption'

 

Speaking quickly and earnestly in a clipped Belgian accent, he repeats

that he is the victim of corruption; that he is innocent of the

pedophilia charges that have put him where he is today. Lauwaert,

widely known as "Lucky," is pessimistic about his chances of acquittal.

 

"Personally, I think this case is highly political," Lauwaert tells the

Post. "Even though the verdict has not been made yet, I think I will

probably not get out."

 

The following day, his prediction is proven true, and the Appeal Court

upholds the guilty verdict. Afterwards, Lauwaert's lawyer, Dy Borima,

calls the verdict "unjust," and says his client will appeal to the

Supreme Court.

 

Born in Belgium, Lauwaert has been an Australian citizen since he was

21. In July 2002, ten girls aged between 14 and 18 accused him and his

former Siem Reap housemate Clint Betterridge, also Australian, of

sexual assault. After the accusations, all ten girls were put into the

care of the Siem Reap branch of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center

(CWCC), a local NGO that provides shelter and counseling to women and

children.

 

On January 29, 2003, Lauwaert and Betterridge were convicted in the

Siem Reap Provincial Court of the crime of debauchery.

 

Article 8 of the Suppression of the Kidnapping, Trafficking and

Exploitation of Human Persons Law (1996) defines debauchery as acts on

a minor person below 15 years old even if there is consent.

 

Lauwaert was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Three days before the

trial Betterridge fled the country, after the Australian Embassy in

Phnom Penh issued him a passport to replace the one confiscated by

Cambodian authorities. He was tried in absentia, and sentenced to 10

years. He was arrested and jailed in Australia shortly after his

return.

 

But 18 months after the trial, nine of the ten accusers changed their

story. In an open letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen and King Norodom

Sihamoni, they stated that they had been pressured by CWCC into falsely

accusing Lauwaert and Betterridge. They said they had been held at the

CWCC shelter against their will, and told they would be sent to prison

if they didn't testify against them. The letter was marked with their

thumbprints.

 

In a separate, individual retraction, one of the accusers, Kheoun Savy,

wrote: "CWCC kidnap me and my sister. Force me to complain about Lucky.

Promise money to my mother and say if I do not do as they say they will

put me and my family in the prison."

 

Now 18, Savy testified to Lauwaert's innocence at his June 1 appeal

hearing, and compared him to a Buddhist monk, according to a news

report.

 

According to Oung Chanthol, executive director of CWCC, the ten victims

filed a complaint with the police before her organization became

involved, so it would have been impossible for CWCC to have coerced

them. She adds that nobody was detained against their will.

 

"Ten girls stayed with us, some for six months and some for less than

six months," says Chanthol. "The girls needed psychological and medical

care, and in our shelter we provide counseling, legal advice also. Each

girl spent four to five days at home every two weeks, and relatives

came to visit them in the shelter."

 

Chanthol says there have been reports that the nine girls who recanted

were influenced by an unknown woman who visited them in Siem Reap after

the first trial. The woman reportedly told them that CWCC had been

given $100,000 to pass on to them by Lauwaert's mother, but it was

keeping the money for itself. In a press release on June 13, Chanthol

called for an investigation into the actions of the CWCC by both

Cambodian and Australian authorities.

 

"CWCC has never had and still has nothing to hide in this case," she

said.

 

Chanthol has headed CWCC since its inception in 1997, and in 2001 won

the internationally respected Magsaysay Award for emerging Asian

leaders.

 

Investigation into CWCC

 

The Australian government announced on June 13 it would launch an

investigation into whether or not CWCC receives funding from AusAID.

Chanthol told the Post that AusAID staff had gone to the CWCC office to

obtain a copy of a 1997 funding agreement between the two parties.

 

Only hours after Lauwaert's guilty verdict was handed down by judge

Saly Theara on June 9, Betterridge was released from prison in

Australia, on the orders of Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison.

 

According to a report in the Weekend Australian, in light of the nine

women's withdrawal of allegations against Lauwaert and Betterridge,

Ellison ordered Betterridge's release, rejecting Cambodia's demand for

extradition, saying Betterridge could not be assured of justice in

Cambodia and could face torture.

 

Betterridge is now a free man.

 

Chanthol said she was surprised the Australian authorities had released

Betteridge.

 

"The Australian government did not contact CWCC yet or look at police

evidence," she said. "I think they should have done more to find out

what happened before the decision was made to release."

 

The day before Lauwaert's verdict, Australian Embassy spokesman Guy

Ruediger told the Post the Australian Embassy had sought to ensure

Lauwaert received his full rights under fair and transparent legal

proceedings. In response to Lauwaert's assertion that embassy officials

had met privately with the Appeal Court judges a day before the appeal

began, he said "No comment."

 

Prior to Lauwaert's latest appeal came the failed appeal of Graham

Cleghorn, another foreigner living in Siem Reap who claimed that

judges, police and CWCC staff engineered false accusations against him.

 

Cleghorn, 59, a New Zealander, was tried and convicted in February 2004

for the rape of five teenage girls. The allegations of corruption

surrounding his conviction parallel the later trials of Lauwaert and

Betterridge.

 

Cleghorn is currently in Prey Sar prison. His case goes to the Supreme

Court in July, where he will be represented by Dy Borima, the same

lawyer who acts for Lauwaert.

 

According to Cleghorn's supporters, Judge Tan Senarong, who presided

over his original trial, colluded with his sister, a prominent CWCC

member, to put Cleghorn in prison so he could be blackmailed for

valuable land he owned near Angkor Wat.

 

Lauwaert makes similar claims. He also says court officials tried to

extort $70,000 from him when he was taken into custody, and he says

CWCC instigated the entire investigation.

 

Trend among NGOs to 'scapegoat foreigners'

 

"Two girls [who worked as his cleaners] were against their will pushed

into a car, and taken to the police station, with a CWCC

representative, and kept till eleven o'clock at night," he says. "And

they were told if they don't file a complaint against me they will

never see their parents again, and be sent to prison."

 

As far as Lauwaert is concerned, he and Betterridge are victims of a

trend among NGOs to scapegoat foreigners for blackmailing purposes, and

to collect foreign aid.

 

"They play on the guilt of foreign donors, saying 'Your citizens come

to our country, prey on our people: now we want more money to help our

NGOs,'" he says. "But the real child abuse, 99.9 percent happens in

Khmer villages. Family members, older boys, neighbors, whatever. But

say you arrest somebody, a Cambodian, who has raped a child, you're not

going to get any money."

 

On June 6, Pursat man Chan Prampey was sentenced to 15 years in prison

for the rape of a 4-year-old girl. Ngeth Theavy, coordinator for rights

group ADHOC, described the sentence as minimal, saying the law

specifies a prison term of 15 to 20 years for child sex crimes.

 

On the subject of CWCC, Lauwaert's fury penetrates his mild exterior.

 

"They are just a man-hating witch hunt," he says. "They really hate

men, it's incredible. I want to pull the hairs out of my head."

 

Chanthol is impassive about the Lauwaert verdict.

 

"It's not my issue," she says. "I'm not happy, not anything. I just see

that the state is committed to its obligation to protect children."

 

However she says she is very disappointed that the girls have said CWCC

told them to lie.

 

And what about Kheoun Savy, who says CWCC threatened and detained her?

 

"Why the first time did she say that Bart raped her, but now she turns

her word?" Chanthol says. "I don't know, only she knows the truth

whether he is a monk or he is her abuser."

 

Phnom Penh Post, Issue 15 / 12, June 16 - 29, 2006

© Michael Hayes, 2006. All rights revert to authors and artists on

publication.

For permission to publish any part of this publication, contact Michael

Hayes, Editor-in-Chief

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