Absent Spanish Man Tried for Sex Crimes

Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday tried a Spanish national in absentia for allegedly buying sex from a 14-year-old boy at his rented house in Prampi Makara district’s Veal Vong commune a year ago.

Francisco Pellicer Caules, 57, was accused of paying the 14-year-old boy 1,500 riel, or about $0.38, to have sex with him daily last December.

Despite still being listed as wanted for sex crimes in Cambodia on Interpol’s website, Spanish news websites have reported that Mr Pellicer Caules was arrested in Spain in August.

In court yesterday, the boy alleged that the suspect had invited him to live in his house in December 2009 and promised to provide him with a $50 salary a month to clean his house.

“The suspect lured me to have sex with him every day for one month and then gave me 1,500 riel for food every day after I had sex with him,” the boy said.

The boy’s lawyer, Peng Maneth, claimed yesterday that Mr Pellicer Caules had intimidated her client by telling him not to tell anyone about their relationship and asked that he be forced to serve his sentence in Cambodia

Ms Maneth also requested that the suspect be ordered to pay $5,000 to the victim’s family.

Representing the suspect, lawyer Nou Chandeth said it was not fair that his client could not rebut the allegations made against him in the court. “If my client has committed the crime, [I ask] the court to please reduce my client’s punishment,” he said.

 

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