PattayaMale Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a 14-year prison sentence for British national Maurice John Praill on charges of sexually abusing an 8-year-old boy eight years ago. The ruling was read out to Praill, 77, at a court in Chonburi, 90 kilometres east of Bangkok. Praiil was arrested in 2001 on charges of sexually abusing a minor at the beach community of Pattaya and sentenced to 14 years in prison but was allowed to live freely in Pattaya on bail for the past eight years as he appealed the case. Since his 2001 arrest, at least six new child sexual abuse charges have been filed against Praill, Supreme Court officials said. The initial sentence ordered by a lower court was upheld first by an appeals court and finally by the Supreme Court in Bangkok. Wednesday's ruling was welcomed by ECPAT, or End Child Prostitution Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, a non-governmental organisation, but it also expressed worries. Quote
Gaybutton Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 also expressed worries. I'm a little worried too. My worry is if he was convicted on that kind of charge, and then was arrested on similar charges, several times yet, then why on earth was he allowed to remain free to do the same thing for eight years? That earns a spot on my "I Don't Get It" list. I can't help but take note of the fact that the same boy he abused is still under age eight years later. Well, I guess for the next several years he can look forward to midnight conjugal visits from some big mongos that he doesn't want one from . . . Quote
Guest MonkeySee Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 Wednesday's ruling was welcomed by ECPAT, or End Child Prostitution Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, a non-governmental organisation, but it also expressed worries. Worried that it cannot cleanse the world of pedos. Quote
Guest lvdkeyes Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 It is totally absurd that he was allowed to remain free. Quote
atri1666 Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 I believe there are many running free and we dont know about. Quote
Guest lvdkeyes Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 I believe there are many running free and we dont know about. Yes, but the police knew about this one. Quote
PattayaMale Posted January 28, 2009 Author Posted January 28, 2009 Details of the case appear here Details of Praill Quote
Guest Astrrro Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 why on earth was he allowed to remain free to do the same thing for eight years? That earns a spot on my "I Don't Get It" list. And I also don't get why he didn't flee the country. Quote
Gaybutton Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 And I also don't get why he didn't flee the country. I wondered about that too. Maybe his passport was being withheld. Maybe he was convinced he would win his case. Maybe his attorney assured him he would only have to pay a fine. Maybe, since he had been getting away with it for eight years, he couldn't resist the urge to continue as long as he could. He was caught six times over that time period. The article doesn't say anything about whether he will be tried on those charges too. Lord only knows how many times he was at it and didn't get caught. Whatever his reasons, the fact that he was caught so many times and yet was allowed to remain free, apparently there is more to the story than the media reported. Quote
Guest lvdkeyes Posted January 29, 2009 Posted January 29, 2009 Whatever his reasons, the fact that he was caught so many times and yet was allowed to remain free, apparently there is more to the story than the media reported. Yes, most probably big money was spread around. Quote
Guest MonkeySee Posted January 29, 2009 Posted January 29, 2009 Yes, most probably big money was spread around. Like in the US and everyplace else, with big money you can do almost anything. The fact that this guy was able to make bail on so many of the same charges, tells me that the Thai authorities do not judge the offence as bad as we do in the West. Quote
Gaybutton Posted January 29, 2009 Posted January 29, 2009 Like in the US and everyplace else, with big money you can do almost anything. We have no way of knowing whether this man had 'big money' or not. I have been told that in most cases in Thailand, if someone is going to be able to buy his way out of trouble the arrangements have to be made before his name goes on a court docket. This guy is 77 years old and he has been sentenced to 14 years, which is probably tantamount to a life sentence. And he still has those other six charges. I have no idea whether those additional charges are going to be pursued. I have no idea whether he will have to serve the full 14 years. Maybe his attorney told him he can expect some sort of clemency due to his age. Here's something else I know: Farang trying to figure out how things really work in Thailand, why things work the way they do in Thailand, or the logic behind virtually anything is an exercise in futility. Quote
Guest laurence Posted January 29, 2009 Posted January 29, 2009 This case of the "Ghost" is much like an earlier report on the "Italian". Both had a history of offenses, both were observed by someone for suspicious behavior with a minor, the authorities were notified and the police with photographer showed up just in time, to catch them in the nude and in the act. Obviously they were under observation in order to catch them with irrefutable evidence. Little doubt that the authorities are being aggressive with known offenders. Quote
Gaybutton Posted January 29, 2009 Posted January 29, 2009 The following, with quite a bit of detail, now appears in the PATTAYA DAILY NEWS: For photos, see: http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000008325 The photos alone may explain why this man neither ceased his behavior nor tried to leave Thailand. If one picture is really worth 1000 words, this guy is nuts! The article seems to confirm that notion. Just why the courts permitted him to remain free goes beyond me. That fact gets high ranking on my "I Don't Get It" list. _____ BRITISH PAEDOPHILE JAILED FOR 14 YEARS FOR CHILD SEX ABUSE IN PATTAYA Thailand‘s Supreme Court on Wednesday, 28 January 2009, ordered an elderly British man convicted eight years ago of abusing underage girls to start serving his 14-year prison sentence, a court official said. John Maurice Praill, 78, was arrested in Pattaya in mid-2000 on charges of sexually abusing the girls, aged 12 and 13, but has been free for most of the intervening years. He was convicted and sentenced by a criminal court in 2001, but released pending appeal. An appeals court in 2004 upheld the sentence, but the Briton was again freed on bail and allowed to take his case the Supreme Court, which Wednesday ruled that Praill must start serving his jail term. The Supreme Court has upheld the sentence by the regional Court of Appeals to sentence the convict to 14 years in jail. He was sent to Chonburi provincial jail Wednesday to start serving the sentence. Judge Charoenchai Assawapirya-a-nan confirmed a sentence imposed more than eight years ago. He said there was no way the child victims could have lied because they gave so much detailed evidence including how Praill cut up his Viagra tablets and his use of KY jelly. 'Paedophile - I don’t use that word,' he said. 'I pay to feel. The girls were paid'. He said he was stunned at the verdict and insisted that the elder of the two victims, aged 14, wanted to marry him afterwards. 'I expect I will die in prison if I do not get a pardon.' He insisted before being led away in a blue prison bus: 'I just like helping young people, sex or not, never mind, it was not the main thing’. For the first few arrests in the 90s, he just ‘paid fines ‘at the local police station, and paid the victims. But then he was sentenced to 14 years in December 2001 on the rape charges of two girls aged 13 and 14. He had been able to stay free by getting bail while petitioning the Appeal Court, which confirmed his sentence, then he went the country’s Supreme Court, a total eight-year process. Meanwhile Praill was arrested again in 2007 for the rape of two girls aged 11 and 9 and again given bail. That case has not gone to trial. Praill's latest arrest was on 18 March, 2008, he was arrested in Pattaya for abusing an eight-year-old boy, and that case too awaits trial. Praill, was nickname PEE or ‘The Ghost’ because of his frightening appearance, said Sudarat Sereewat, Director of the FACE (Fight Against Child Exploitation) Foundation, and a member of Thailand’s National Child Protection Committee. When he first arrived in Thailand Praill kept a diary, now with the FACE Foundation, which detailed his attempts to buy up schoolchildren as his ‘wives’. He fortified himself with the sex drug Viagra and Vitamin C capsules and trawled three locations in Pattaya, the Royal Garden Centre the Siren Bar and the ‘Made in Thailand’ market, where he knew young girls hung out and found a 12-yr-old called Lek. He wrote how he provided ‘lacquer’ for Lek and her friends , who sniffed glue in his front room, and of his desire to conquer her. But each time he tried she complained: ‘I don’t want to’ or ‘It hurts’. 'She makes me horny. How long can I take this?' he asked his diary. Then on Wednesday May 6th 1992 he announced in triumph that his grooming had been successful: 'About 10 p.m. I have the best session ever. She seems to enjoy it.' Praill went on to marry Lek and had employed the girl’s parents as his household staff but his marriage lasted only three months. Mrs.Sudarat Sereewat, director of the child protection group Fight Against Child Exploitation, welcomed the court's decision. "We are very pleased that the Thai judicial system is finally aware of the child sexual abuse and have handed down justice," she said, according to AFP. "This suspect should have been in jail for a long time." Quote
Guest MonkeySee Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 We have no way of knowing whether this man had 'big money' or not. He put up 6,500 pounds bail money in 2008 and 8,000 pounds the year before. I do not know how much bail money he put up on the other charges. His problems have been since 2001 and he has money enough for lawyers and court costs. I should think if he has money enough to take his case to the Supreme Court, then he has "big money" compared to the average Thai. Quote
Gaybutton Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 he has "big money" compared to the average Thai. He also has "big money" compared to me. I shudder to think how he earned it. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 'Paedophile - I don’t use that word,' he said. 'I pay to feel. The girls were paid' And what about the 8-year old boy! Sick! Quote
Guest Steve1903 Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 These stories just get me down. I find the whole thing utterly depressing. Quote
Guest lvdkeyes Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 These stories just get me down. I find the whole thing utterly depressing. They anger me more than depress me. Quote
KhorTose Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 They anger me more than depress me. These sickos use a hundred excuses to justify their sickness. Psychology is not based on anyone's biblical morality, and it universally condemns sex with children who are prepubescent, and then you have people like Annan (who also posts under under names) on SGT. http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum...act-t17082.html What is interesting is that no discussion of underage sex is allowed on that forum, but statements like Annans are allowed, and because of that rule, often go unchallenged. It has frustrated at least one bar owner who has tried his best to stop this crap in Sunee, and it frustrates others who know what damage child sex causes its victims. It makes me seriously question that board's policy and the reasons for establishing it. Quote
