Japanese man sentenced in Cambodia for sexually abusing 13-year-old girl

Dec 6 2012 AFP

Two Vietnamese girls, aged eight and 10, sit on a bed in a brothel in the Cambodian village of Svay Pak, near Phnom Penh. Sex with underage Vietnamese girls can be easily bought at the village, for around $30. The government's efforts to crack down on brothels and karaoke parlors have failed to stop the child sex industry in Cambodia, humanitarian agencies say. [Stringer via Reuters].

PHNOM PENH —

A Japanese man was convicted by a Cambodian court on Wednesday for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl in the northwest tourist town of Siem Reap, officials said.

Shuji Yamagishi, 41, who described himself as a cultural researcher during his trial, was given a one-year suspended term and ordered to pay the victim five million riel ($1,250) compensation.

He was arrested at his rented accommodation on May 16 and was initially accused of raping the girl, who lived in the same building, but the presiding judge at Siem Reap provincial court downgraded the charge.

“The court found there was not enough evidence to support the sexual intercourse charge, so the charge was changed to indecent assault,” said prosecutor Uy Samphea, adding that he would not appeal against the verdict.

The girl’s lawyer Hong Sambath, who works for child rights group Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), said the sentence was “too lenient”.

“Our biggest disappointment is that the court did not order him to be deported (after serving his sentence),” he told AFP.

Dozens of foreigners have been jailed for child sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries since Cambodia launched an anti-pedophilia push in 2003 in a bid to shake off its reputation as a haven for sexual predators.