Aussie-RI police unite on pedophile case
Aussie-RI police unite on pedophile case
Jamie Tarabay Associated Press Sydney, Australia
Australian authorities are cooperating with Indonesian police over a former Australian embassy worker detained on pedophilia allegations, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Monday, defending police against criticism that they did not act earlier in the case.
William Stuart Brown, 51, the former embassy official, was arrested in the eastern Bali town of Karangasem on Jan. 5 over accusations that he sexually abused two boys, aged 15 and 13, on at least two occasions.
Indonesian police said on Sunday they could have prevented the alleged abuse if Australian authorities had given them more information about the suspect.
But Downer said Australian Federal Police couldn't act without sufficient evidence on Brown, who has not been charged with any offense.
"The federal police have been investigating him and keeping an eye on him for quite some time, and they have been cooperating with the Indonesian police," Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Monday. He did not elaborate on the nature of the cooperation.
Brown lived in Canberra before moving to Indonesia eight years ago to teach English. He also worked at the Australian embassy in Jakarta from 1982-1984 for an Australian government aid group, said Downer's spokesman Chris Kenny.
The Australian Federal Police first passed information to Indonesian authorities about Brown's alleged pedophile activity in 1996, a federal police spokeswoman said on Monday on condition of anonymity.
"We did assist them with investigations into Brown, who was at that time a resident of Indonesia," she said.
Brown came to the attention of the federal police during efforts to enforce a law aimed at combatting sex tourism, but there had been insufficient evidence to charge him. However, the police passed information on Brown to an inquiry into allegations of organized pedophilia within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
That report examined 15 allegations against 10 DFAT officers relating to incidents between 1975 and 1996, and found the department mishandled two cases in the early 1980s.
It is a federal crime in Australia to organize child sex tours overseas. Those convicted face a maximum sentence of 17 years imprisonment. Since the legislation was introduced in 2002, 12 people have been convicted.