A Canadian man was charged with debauchery in Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday for allegedly sexually abusing two boys aged 11 and 14.
Court prosecutor Nget Sarath charged Orville Frank Mader, alleging the 51-year-old had the boys fondle him. Under the anti-human trafficking law, Nget Sarath said, Mader could face 10 to 15 years in prison.
Waiting outside the courtroom Friday, a calm, quiet Mader said he did nothing wrong.
Mader, who said he was a teacher in Japan here on vacation, allowed the boys to stay at his rented house because they appeared to be homeless, he said. During the past few weeks, he said, he allowed up to 20 boys to stay there at a time.
He and some of the boys engaged in “sex play,” he said, but he did not have oral sex or sexual intercourse with any of them.
“It was all very tender and gentle,” Mader said. “It was just normal. The boys were expressing their sexuality and I felt honored to be part of that…. They initiated it.”
“I don’t understand how something tender could be the same as murder,” Mader said, responding to the possible prison term. “I am not a bad person.”
On Thursday, police said they had arrested Mader and raided his house Tuesday, where they found three boys who claimed Mader paid them to have sex with him. Earlier the same day, police said, they had questioned two other boys who also said they had sex with the suspect several times.
Nget Sarath said Friday the charge involved only the statements from two of the boys.
Meanwhile, Nget Sarath said the municipal court ordered the release of a US man suspected of taking pornographic photos on Tuesday after he posted $5,000 bail.
Frank Kent, 47, from the state of California, was arrested Jan 1 and charged with debauchery and taking pornographic pictures after police found him with four Vietnamese girls between the ages 15 and 18.
Investigating judge Sor Sophory released Kent and dropped the debauchery charge because the court found the girls were not underage, Nget Sarath said.
