| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
4 months left
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
|
 Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:31 pm Post subject: Christopher Neil trial set to begin in Thailand |
 |
|
Christopher Neil is set to begin his trial in Bangkok Monday for allegedly committing sex crimes against a minor, but his Thai boyfriend says it's "impossible" he could have abused anyone.
Canadian pedophile suspect Christopher Paul Neil, right, sits next to a Thai prison official at criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand on Monday, March 10, 2008. (AP / Apichart Weerawong)
CTV.ca News Staff
Ohm, who only goes by one name and first met Neil three years ago, says the Canadian never gave him the impression he was a pedophile as Thai police have alleged.
"I think it's impossible," he told CTV's Steve Chao in the Thai city of Pattaya. "I didn't know him before, but when I knew him, he looked like a normal guy."
Ohm, 26, is one of Neil's staunchest defenders and has regularly visited him in jail.
"I told him I will wait for him," he said.
Neil, 32, has been charged in Bangkok Criminal Court with:
Taking a child under 15 without parental consent with intent to molest, punishable by up to 20 years in prison;
Illegal detention, punishable by up to three years; and,
Sexual abuse of a child under 15, punishable by up to 10 years.
Neil, from Maple Ridge, B.C. has pleaded not guilty, protested his innocence and told a reporter during a March court appearance: "I hope there will be justice in Thailand."
Prosecutors will be relying on the testimony of one Thai boy and about 70 photographs.
The boy was nine when the alleged incident occurred in 2003.
Neil's lawyer has remained largely tight-lipped about his strategy to defend his client.
"The lawyer said they will show the boy willingly spent time with Neil and plans to refute the charges of sexual abuse and kidnapping," Chao told CTV Newsnet.
The defence thinks the trial could possibly last up to a year, he said.
If Neil is acquitted in Thailand, he could face more charges in nearby Vietnam and Cambodia.
Neil had spent years in Asia teaching English.
He became the object of an international manhunt after the international police agency Interpol unscrambled a digitally altered photo showing a Western man with Asian boys.
The man in that photo was alleged to be Neil.
Police arrested Neil in Thailand in October, while he was staying with Ohm, who says he never knew Neil was a wanted man.
Neil's family in British Columbia reportedly did not provide money for legal counsel, and so Neil has a court-appointed lawyer, Chao said. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Wow - so he's already done 8 months in a Thai prison before even going to trial. He's likely getting pretty worn down already. I can't imagine the other foreign prisoners - mostly in there for drugs offenses - would take very kindly to him. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:07 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Shouldn't the photos be enough to convict? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Julius wrote: |
| Shouldn't the photos be enough to convict? |
If they can prove that is him in the photos. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:00 am Post subject: |
|
|
| bacasper wrote: |
| Julius wrote: |
| Shouldn't the photos be enough to convict? |
If they can prove that is him in the photos. |
The photos also reportedly are of Cambodian and / or Vietnamese victims. That might be enough to convict him in the country where the crimes occured or in his home country, but it's not Thailand's jurisdiction. However, they could (and no doubt will) be used as evidence of his criminal intentions. Having read a few Thai prison stories I'm pretty sure that there's more than enough evidence by Thai standards to convict. Furthermore, in Thailand pleas of not-guilty usually result in sentences twice as long as for guilty pleas, as a rule of thumb, and are less likely to be granted King's Pardons years down the road. In this case, unless Canada requests for him to be extradicted after four years, it means he'll get out of a Thai prison when he's 68 or, more likely, die in one. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
cisco kid
Joined: 13 Nov 2003
Location: Outlaws had us pinned down at the fort
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:44 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| bacasper wrote: |
| Julius wrote: |
| Shouldn't the photos be enough to convict? |
If they can prove that is him in the photos. |
The photos also reportedly are of Cambodian and / or Vietnamese victims. That might be enough to convict him in the country where the crimes occured or in his home country, but it's not Thailand's jurisdiction. However, they could (and no doubt will) be used as evidence of his criminal intentions. Having read a few Thai prison stories I'm pretty sure that there's more than enough evidence by Thai standards to convict. Furthermore, in Thailand pleas of not-guilty usually result in sentences twice as long as for guilty pleas, as a rule of thumb, and are less likely to be granted King's Pardons years down the road. In this case, unless Canada requests for him to be extradicted after four years, it means he'll get out of a Thai prison when he's 68 or, more likely, die in one. |
Are you sure? The article said that he was asked if he wanted to negotiate a settlemet...I took that to mean "settle out of court" as in, pay a fine and get out of jail free. I was pretty shocked when I read that and took it to mean that he'd be back on the streets in a few years. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| cisco kid wrote: |
| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| bacasper wrote: |
| Julius wrote: |
| Shouldn't the photos be enough to convict? |
If they can prove that is him in the photos. |
The photos also reportedly are of Cambodian and / or Vietnamese victims. That might be enough to convict him in the country where the crimes occured or in his home country, but it's not Thailand's jurisdiction. However, they could (and no doubt will) be used as evidence of his criminal intentions. Having read a few Thai prison stories I'm pretty sure that there's more than enough evidence by Thai standards to convict. Furthermore, in Thailand pleas of not-guilty usually result in sentences twice as long as for guilty pleas, as a rule of thumb, and are less likely to be granted King's Pardons years down the road. In this case, unless Canada requests for him to be extradicted after four years, it means he'll get out of a Thai prison when he's 68 or, more likely, die in one. |
Are you sure? The article said that he was asked if he wanted to negotiate a settlemet...I took that to mean "settle out of court" as in, pay a fine and get out of jail free. I was pretty shocked when I read that and took it to mean that he'd be back on the streets in a few years. |
No, the father's civil suit is another matter entirely. Thai authorities decide whether or not to prosecute and in this case they'll go full steam ahead. Once a criminal case commences in court the prosecution rarely ever loses as this would be seen as a loss of face for the court as a whole. For serious cases the trial doesn't happen in one continuous stretch but happens a day here and a day there over the course of weeks or even months. If the alleged criminal has pled not-guilty he can expect to get the maximum sentence.
For more on how Thai justice works I'd suggest reading:
Escape, by David Macmillan
The Damage Done, by Warren Fellows
Forget You Had a Daughter, by Sandra Gregory
After reading their accounts I'm fairly confident that CPN will be in for 35 years of getting exactly what he deserves, especially if he doesn't have a large source of cash like David Macmillan did (the only person ever to escape from Klong Prem Prison) to pay people off. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
planthopps
Joined: 05 May 2008
Location: Korea
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| he looks tweaked. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Swirly, swirly, swirly get your adverbs here. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
KYC
Joined: 11 May 2006
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| WOW. His "man girlfriend" looks....a lot like a woman...and not a bad looking one! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mountainous
Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Location: Los Angeles
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 2:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
| KYC wrote: |
| WOW. His "man girlfriend" looks....a lot like a woman...and not a bad looking one! |
I don't think she looks very good. Has a HUGE scowl on her face. She also looks strangely very Korean. Nice typical Thai scar on the arm - you can't be Thai and make it adulthood with a half dozen of those.
But yeah, the choice of clothing and everything, she looks exactly like a woman. Usually trannies look and dress...well...very very tranny. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mountainous
Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Location: Los Angeles
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mountainous
Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Location: Los Angeles
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
