Daphne Bramham: Vancouver man charged as sex tourist in Cambodia

Canadian Vijai Indra Deo Kumar is in a Cambodian jail charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl.

The 70-year-old, who is believed to be from Vancouver, was arrested in Siem Reap, best known as the site of huge Angkor Wat temple and increasingly known as a destination for so-called sex tourists. Until his arrest, Kumar had been planning to return to Canada on May 16.

Kumar arrived at the Hilton Angkor resort in Siem Reap on April 16, having spent two months in neighbouring Laos and Vietnam. He was arrested April 26.

Police obtained information through a tip and were able to get a search warrant for Kumar’s room. When they entered the room, police found Kumar with the 14-year-old. They also found sex toys, pornographic videos, a video player, photos of children (not pornographic), a camera, and a pair of the victim’s underwear.

“This wealthy, elderly retiree left Canada to come to Cambodia to buy child prostitutes,” chief prosecutor Ti Sovanthal told the Cambodia Daily.

Although it has not been reported who tipped police, it may well have been hotel staff. The Hilton hotel chain is among a growing number of companies in the tourism industry that have signed The Code (www.thecode.org). Among the pledges that member organizations make is that they will train staff how to recognize and prevent child sexual exploitation by reporting to the appropriate authorities.

In December, the Cambodian government also announced that any hotels and guesthouses that do not report suspicions of child sex abuse will face closure. At the time, a government spokesman said that hotel staff in the capital, Phnom Penh, as well as in Siem Reap and the seaside resort of Sihanoukville, are Cambodia’s first line of defence against child sex abuse.

It was not the first time Kumar had come to the attention of local police, according to Chea Heng, deputy chief of Siem Reap’s human trafficking and child protection. Heng told the Phnom Penh Post that on a previous visit, Kumar had been arrested but not charged after what Heng described as suspicious contact with a young bookseller.

In the first 10 months of 2012, two million foreigners visited Cambodia — a 23.7-per-cent increase over the previous year. During that period, there were 103 reports of tourists suspected of sexually exploiting children. Since 2007, 798 people have been arrested for sexually abusing children, and 322 have been prosecuted, according to Cambodia’s anti-human trafficking and child protection department.

The Cambodian crackdown on sex tourists comes nearly two years after Thailand stepped up its enforcement of child protection laws, which has resulted in sex tourists moving to other countries where prosecutions are rare.

Cambodia has long been a favoured destination for Canadian sex tourists. Of the five Canadians convicted under Canadian law after travelling abroad to have sex with minors, two went to Cambodia and both were from British Columbia.

Christopher Neil, the British Columbian who initially came to public attention as the notorious swirl face found in child pornography videos by German police, is now back in Canada after having served time in a Thai jail for sexually abusing children there. There is still an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Cambodia.

It bears noting that, as in Canada, Kumar is presumed innocent under Cambodian law until his case is heard.

But Canadians — and especially Canadian law enforcement officials — ought to be aware that while experts and child-protection advocates in Cambodia generally agree that corruption among the police has been mostly eliminated, the same can’t be said for the judiciary or the politicians.

There have been high-profile examples in Cambodia where foreigners arrested and charged with sexual crimes against children have paid money to their families and the children have changed their testimony. There are other cases where convicted pedophiles have received royal pardons.

Sourced: Cambodia News