Australian pedophile gets 13 years jail term

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Karangasem

Karangasem District Court sentenced on Tuesday a former Australian diplomat to 13 years in jail for sexually abusing two underage boys in the resort island of Bali.

Presiding judge I Nyoman Sutama said that defendant William Stuart Brown, 52, was proven guilty of repeatedly sodomizing two boys, causing them to suffer post-traumatic stress. The deed was also against the religious values of the Balinese, and worse, it had tarnished the image of Bali, as the wrongdoing created a perception among the public that Bali was a haven for pedophiles, the judge told the packed courtroom.

The judge ruled that the defendant had violated Article 82 of the law on child protection, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail. The 13-year jail sentence handed down by the judge was more than had been demanded by prosecutor Wayan Eka Mianta. In a previous hearing, the prosecutor demanded a 12-year jail sentence for the former diplomat, who was assigned to Indonesia from 1982 to 1984.

The crowd of spectators cheered and clapped after the judge delivered the verdict, which was much to the disappointment of the defendant. Brown, who was arrested by police on Jan. 6 this year, broke into tears and stood up, stared and shouted at the spectators, "b*****ds!", quoted as saying by AFP.

He quickly sat down, in apparent disbelief at the heavy sentence handed down to him by the panel of judges.

In contrast to Brown, the verdict pleased the two boys who had become the victims of the pedophile. The two, one 14 and another 16, accompanied by their parents, attended the trial session and sang the patriotic song, Padamu Negeri, immediately after the presiding judge had handed down the verdict.

One of the parents said that he was satisfied with the verdict, saying that the former diplomat deserved the heavy sentence.

Separately, the defendant's lawyer, I Nengah Maharsa, expressed disappointment at the verdict. He said that the defendant should have been given a more lenient sentence because he believed that the former diplomat had not resorted to violence when he had sex with the two boys. "Anyway, we shall discuss with the defendant whether he will appeal," said Maharsa.

The former diplomat was reported to the police in early January this year for allegedly sodomizing two local boys by a river in Jasri, Karangasem regency, some 80 kilometers northeast of Denpasar, the provincial capital of Bali.

A hospital medical report on the anus of the two boys indicated that they had been sodomized and, based on the report, the police arrested the former diplomat on Jan. 6. Police also accused the defendant of coercing several other underage boys to have sex with him in the past.

This has not been the first instance of pedophilia to come to light in Bali. Another foreign national was also convicted in a Bali court in 2002 for sexually assaulting an underage boy.