TVNZ (New Zealand)Saturday February 28, 2009
Source: NZPA
A 12-year-old Cambodian girl has not been told that images of her being sexually abused were found on the computer of a Christchurch man whose home was raided in December 2007.
Staff at the foster home where she now lives say that telling her about the images would only add to her shame, embarrassment and insecurity five years after she was rescued from child prostitution.
She had been abused by a Canadian offender who travelled to her village north of Phnom Penh. He has since been caught and dealt with, but the photographs he took as he carried out the abuse are apparently still in circulation.
When the Christchurch man was sentenced today, he went to jail for one year nine months on a series of charges, Christchurch District Court Judge Colin Doherty got the approval of the crown and police for the release of the Cambodian girl's victim impact report to the NZPA reporter.
It was a rare case where child pornography investigators had been able to identify and trace one of the children in the images, he said.
The released version of the report has the names of the girl and her village blocked out, as well as the name of the detective who made the connection, who was working undercover for the International Justice Mission while he was on leave from the New Zealand Police.
In January 2003, the girl was one of more than 50 children in the village between five and 12 years old who were "sold on a daily basis to Western paedophiles for sexual exploitation", the report stated.
"The girl, then aged seven, worked in the brothels near her home for a year before she was rescued. During this time she was expected to perform sexual acts with the `guests' who visited every day. In return, her parents received small amounts of money. There were many times she was photographed by guests."
One guest was the Canadian whose crimes were described as brutal, violent, and degrading in the report. His young victims were verbally abused and repeatedly forced to perform oral sex while he videoed and photographed them.
He was arrested in 2004 and became the first Canadian to be convicted using extra-territorial legislation covering offences against children overseas.
The girl was rescued in 2003 and lived in a shelter before she moved two years later to another organisation, Hagar International, that provided long term care and rehabilitation.
"Following the rescue operation, those involved in debriefing (the girl) stated that they had never participated in a case involving such savagery against children so young," the report said.
The girl still finds it distressing to talk about the abuse. She described her time in the village as "a big, black hole and sometimes I am scared I will fall back into it". She experiences flashbacks to that time.
The report describes her as a quiet girl with few friends. Through her art work she has described feeling "broken-hearted and hopeless".
"Below the surface she is a hurt little girl afraid of the memories that still haunt her," the report says.
In court today, Judge Doherty described the report as "chilling".
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