The Australian
By staff writers and wires
May 03, 2008
AN Australian man has been found dead in his Cambodian jail cell, according to a report by wire agency DPA.
Bart Lauwaert, a former teacher, was serving a 20-year sentence in a Siem Reap prison for child sex offences. His last avenue of appeal was closed last month.
A prison official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told DPA Lauwaert had not been on suicide watch and no formal cause of death had been established, although heart failure had not been ruled out.
Lauwaert, 41, was arrested with fellow Australian Clinton Rex Betterridge in 2002 and charged with molesting more than a dozen girls aged under the age of 15. Betteridge jumped bail and fled Cambodia, but was jailed in Australia.
In 2006 girls who had testified against the men at their original trial recanted their statement during a hearing at the Cambodian Court of Appeal. The girls claimed they had been offered money by the local rights group Cambodian Women's Crisis Centre if they testified against the men.
The mens' sentences were upheld by the Cambodian court, but Betteridge was released from jail in Australia the same day. DPA said then-Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison also ordered a full investigation into any Australian aid supplied to the CWCC. The CWCC has strenuously denies any wrongdoing.
New Zealand national Graham Robert Cleghorn is also in a Cambodian jail as a result of a CWCC-led complaint.
By staff writers and wires
May 03, 2008
AN Australian man has been found dead in his Cambodian jail cell, according to a report by wire agency DPA.
Bart Lauwaert, a former teacher, was serving a 20-year sentence in a Siem Reap prison for child sex offences. His last avenue of appeal was closed last month.
A prison official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told DPA Lauwaert had not been on suicide watch and no formal cause of death had been established, although heart failure had not been ruled out.
Lauwaert, 41, was arrested with fellow Australian Clinton Rex Betterridge in 2002 and charged with molesting more than a dozen girls aged under the age of 15. Betteridge jumped bail and fled Cambodia, but was jailed in Australia.
In 2006 girls who had testified against the men at their original trial recanted their statement during a hearing at the Cambodian Court of Appeal. The girls claimed they had been offered money by the local rights group Cambodian Women's Crisis Centre if they testified against the men.
The mens' sentences were upheld by the Cambodian court, but Betteridge was released from jail in Australia the same day. DPA said then-Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison also ordered a full investigation into any Australian aid supplied to the CWCC. The CWCC has strenuously denies any wrongdoing.
New Zealand national Graham Robert Cleghorn is also in a Cambodian jail as a result of a CWCC-led complaint.
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