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Graham
Cleghorn….victim of injustice in |
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A New Zealander charged
with rape and illegal possession of a weapon has been jailed for 20 years by
a Cambodian court. Siem Reap Municipal
Court has found Graham Robert Cleghorn, 57, guilty of repeatedly raping five
former employees aged between 15 and 19. Cleghorn was sentenced
to 20 years jail and ordered to pay US$2000 ($2800) compensation to each
girl's family. The girls had requested between US$5000 and US$10,000 each. In handing down the
sentence, Judge Plang Chlam ruled that Cleghorn would serve an additional two
years for each girl he failed to compensate financially. Court prosecutor So Vat
told the court the girls had been hired by Cleghorn's wife, Baut Toer, 25, as
maids for US$20 per month, but that between 2001 and 2003 he had
systematically sexually abused each of them, making his wife order them into
his room to give him massage before sexually assaulting or raping them. So Vat said the court
would produce evidence that the girls were taken to a clinic every three
months by Baut Toer and injected with hormones to stop them becoming
pregnant. Baut Toer was charged
with procuring, but avoided jail, instead receiving a three-year sentence
suspended for five years. "Inside Mr
Graham's house there were many young girls and Mr Graham had sex with all of
them and they were all made available for massage in his room," So Vat
told the court. Cleghorn denied the
charges, saying the girls had been offered money by the Cambodian Women's
Crisis Centre to complain about him. The same non-government
organisation brought charges of debauchery (the Cambodian name for the charge
of paedophilia) against two Australians - Bart Lauwaert and Clinton
Betterridge - in 2002 in the same northern Cambodian town. Evidence produced in
court included a jar of Vaseline the prosecution claimed was found in the
house "without medical reason", and a pistol police said was found
on Cleghorn's property after he was arrested last October. No bullets were
found. Medical evidence was
tendered that the girls had been checked by a doctor and found to have shown
evidence of sexual activity. No other forensic or medical evidence was offered. Each girl stood in the
rickety dock and repeated a story of coming to work for Cleghorn as a cleaner
or cook but instead being called to his room by his wife soon after their
arrival and forced to have sex with him. Each said they stayed
for a year or more in his employ because they were "scared to be without
a job". They said Cleghorn would often pay them up to US$10 after sex,
but sometimes paid them nothing. Cleghorn has insisted
throughout his detention that he was set up because he is one of only two
foreign property owners in the tourist town near the world famous Angkor Wat
temple complex, where he worked as a tour guide. The other foreign
property owner, Cleghorn's friend, Swiss hotelier Rudolph Knuchel, beat
paedophilia charges brought against him by the crisis centre on appeal last
year and is suing the organisation for defamation in a Swiss court. Cleghorn has lived in He formerly ran the
Minefield Bar, but most recently had made a living by taking tourists to the
ancient temples that lie less than a kilometre from his home in Phum Quien,
just outside Siem Reap town. "The prosecutor
would like the court to believe that these girls would stay in my house and
allow themselves to be raped every month for $20 but not to believe that they
would stand in court and lie for $10,000. I think a bribe of $10,000 is
enough to tempt anyone," Cleghorn told the court in an impassioned
speech before the sentencing, referring to his claims that the crisis centre
had promised the girls money for testifying against him. "A mother who
looked at the face of a man who had raped her daughters would look at him
with hate. These women hang their heads in shame when they look at me. "They did it
because they are poor and want $10,000. The sad thing is, there is no money. "The only thing
they can get from me is to see me in jail." Cambodian Women's
Crisis Centre Siem Reap director Keat Nuon said after the verdict that it was
a great day for justice. "He has hurt many children, and he should have
faced this sentence a long time ago." Cleghorn
will appeal the charge in |