An accused child rapist was kicked out of his own trial at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court Tuesday after refusing to comply with the judge’s orders to sit down and wait for his turn to speak.
Australian national George Moussallie, 52, is accused of sexually abusing six boys under the age of 12 in 2013 and 2014 at his rented home in Daun Penh district before his arrest in August. He has been charged with molesting and having sex with children.
As the fourth session of his trial began Tuesday, Mr. Moussallie demanded to address the court and question deputy prosecutor Top Chhun Long.
“The court does not allow him. Tell him to sit down,” Presiding Judge Kor Vandy instructed a translator to inform Mr. Moussallie. “If he does not sit down, I will send him out and I will continue the trial.”
Judge Vandy informed Mr. Moussallie that he would get his turn to address the court once he finished questioning the victims, four of whom were in attendance.
But Mr. Moussallie refused to comply and was eventually escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs by prison guards.
Judge Vandy then asked the alleged victims, identified by police as beggars on the city’s riverside, to explain how Mr. Moussallie abused them. One of the boys, testifying from a separate room via video link, told the court that he was anally raped.
Mr. Moussallie, a former English teacher at the American Pacific School in Phnom Penh, previously claimed during his trial that he was framed and was only trying to rescue the boys.
He accused anti-pedophile NGO Action pour les Enfants (APLE), which assisted police in their investigation of him, of falsifying evidence.
A verdict is set to be handed down on June 11.
