A WA man who claims to be a former police officer has been charged with child sex offences in Thailand.
link

THAI police have arrested an Australian man who allegedly took a young girl from her poor hill tribe family, kept her as a sex slave for three years and made pornographic videos of them.

If he is indeed found guilty of these crimes I hope when he returns to Australia he is thrown in jail for another 20 yrs.

I believe when these offences are committed by those who the public entrust, it should be considered a more heinous offence and accordingly sentenced harshly to deter others in positions of power from using their societal status as a shield to engage in criminal behaviour.

His badge?

He has a secret power possibly even super-power badge of some description? Man alive talk about a poor choice of who to give it too.

yeah sorry Trog I didnt link the right article. The man claims that he is a former cop working with the AFP in Bangkok. He is only claiming to be a former policeman, that hasn't been verified yet.

Another link. so I will edit that.

It's a shame that people almost immediately assume that someone is guilty in cases like this, myself included. The word "allegedly" doesn't really do much. Sucks to be innocent and accused of something like this.

In Thailand it is legal to pay for sex for children as young as 13 or something, but after some whinging, Australia changed its laws so that people who travel to Asia, sleep with underaged children, then return to Australia can be charged with a criminal offence.

Which is a good thing..

Unfortunately you are right Billy. I will edit the original post.

Steele, yeah, because that way instead of being sexually exploited, the 13 yr old kid can starve, or just get beaten up by their pimp

Which is a good thing..

Not sure which part of what I wrote you are referring to, but I assume it's in regards to the change in laws, which I agree is a good thing. As for whatever else I said, I do think it is better to be safe than sorry with possible sex offenders, but I work with kids and if I was ever accused of something then it would pretty much be life shattering, cause people always assume the worst even if the person is completely innocent. When things like this go to court and the person is found innocent, they still have the accusation hanging over their head for the rest of their lives.

To go further, if you had to employ someone to work with you, would you choose someone who had been charged with child sex offences, but then proven conclusively that they were innocent, or would you just go for the person who never had any charges, and both qualifications were the same?

last edited by Hardball, Billy at 10:28:38 25/Aug/05

Steele, yeah, because that way instead of being sexually exploited, the 13 yr old kid can starve, or just get beaten up by their pimp

I agree with you, if you mean that the only way you can give someone money is by first sexually eploiting them...

nah, just that the kids will almost certainly have f***ed lives anyway. not sure what prosecuting offenders would do, asides from discouraging them from doing it at home as well

Talking about f***ed up lives - anyone seen mysterious skin?