Accused paedophile Christopher Paul Neil faces 40 years
Police filed two more charges of child abuse Wednesday against a suspected Canadian paedophile arrested last week after an international manhunt prompted by child pornography on the internet.
The latest charges against Christopher Paul Neil, 32, were based on testimony of a second Thai victim who alleged he was molested in 2003, when he was of minor age, police told the media.
"We have strong evidence," said Pol Lt Gen Wimon Pao-In, the senior officer in charge of the case.
The new charges include kidnapping and child sexual abuse. "We can bring him to justice and punish him," said Pol Lt Gen Wimon.
Neil, a native of a Vancouver suburb, was arrested last Friday in northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima after he fled South Korea, where he had been teaching English when international police agency Interpol made a global plea for his capture.
He was initially charged with sexually molesting a 9-year-old Thai boy when he was residing in the country in 2003.
German computer experts had reconstructed altered images from an Internet child pornography site, where the man had posted alleged evidence of sexual exploits with several dozen Southeast Asian boys.
The second victim told police Neil lured him to his apartment to play video games, and gave him cash to ensure his trust. On his third visit, the boy testified, Neil abused him and took photographs, the police commander said.
The charges filed thus far by Thai authorities carry combined maximum prison terms of 40 years, according to Pol Lt Gen Wimon.
Thai police identified Neil in airport security photos taken on his entry into the country on Oct 11, which they said matched the photos provided by Interpol. Neil had travelled to Pattaya, where a hotel's closed-circuit TV system taped him as he checked in with a transvestite friend.
Authorities are still seeking other possible Thai victims.
Källa: Bangkok Post
