via CAAI
Monday, 25 October 2010 21:58 Cameron Wells
The British founder of the Siem Reap-based Cambodia Orphan Fund, who on Friday was charged with sexually abusing a child, may face further counts as more children come forward with complaints, the director of a child-protection NGO involved in the investigation has said.
Nicholas Patrick Griffin, 53, was arrested on Wednesday following a raid on the Siem Reap orphanage by local police and the British-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, a division of the United Kingdom police.
On Friday, the provincial court charged Griffin with committing an indecent act against a minor, which carries a sentence of between one and three years in prison.
He was also charged, along with orphanage manager Chan Rasmey, with the unlawful removal of a minor, which carries a two-to-five-year sentence.
Samleang Seila, director of child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants, said he believed more charges were imminent.
“ So far there has only been one child, [but] some of the children are not ready to discuss the sexual abuse, because they were still being supported by the accused,” he said.
He said that cooperative investigations between APLE and the CEOP into Griffin had begun in November 2008, when Griffin was accused of molesting a minor.
No charges resulted from those accusations.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RANN REUY
read the full story in Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours.
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