Thursday, January 28, 2010

US man gets three more years for Cambodian child sex

28/01/2010
AFP

PHNOM PENH, Jan 28 (AFP) - A Cambodian court Thursday extended the jail sentence of a US man by three years after he was convicted for a second time of child sex abuse.

Michael James Dodd, 60, already serving a 10-year sentence for soliciting sex with an underaged Vietnamese girl, was jailed for three more years for having sex with a 15-year-old Cambodian girl.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge Chhay Kong also ordered Dodd, from Washington DC, to be deported after he completes his prison term.

Dodd was arrested in October 2008 for child sex abuse, then convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison in August last year for soliciting sex with a 14-year-old Vietnamese girl.

Dodd's lawyer Meng Sotheary told AFP that there was not enough evidence to prove the charges against her client, and she would appeal Thursday's ruling.

"I cannot accept the verdict because he did not commit the crimes he is charged with," she said.

Dozens of foreigners have been jailed for child sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries since Cambodia launched an anti-paedophilia push in 2003, to try to shake off its reputation as a haven for sex predators.

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