Fed: Australian accused of paedophilia refuses embassy help

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2006
Fed: Australian accused of paedophilia refuses embassy help

CANBERRA, Aug 8 AAP - An Australian school teacher arrested in Jakarta on allegations
of molesting more than 50 children has refused embassy assistance.

The 48-year-old man, named by police only as Peter, was arrested in his rented house
in Jakarta on Saturday after police received reports from two children who fled his house,
police spokesman I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana told news agency AFP.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today the Jakarta-based English teacher allegedly
had molested more than 50 Indonesian street children since moving to the country in 2000.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has confirmed an Australian man
had been arrested in Jakarta on August 5 in relation to child sex allegations.

"Our embassy endeavoured to offer consular assistance, and he said he didn't want consular
assistance," Mr Downer told reporters in Canberra today.

"But it is a matter, of course, for the police."

Consular officers were monitoring the case closely, he said.

Police are alleging the man also molested children in Vietnam and Cambodia.

The spokesman said the Jakarta Centre for Street Children also had filed a complaint
against the Australian.

Andri Cahyadi, a worker with the centre, said the man allegedly had sold movies depicting
masturbating teenagers on the internet, the Detikcom online news reported.

Indonesia, particularly two of its top resort islands of Bali and Lombok, is increasingly
being used as a haven by foreign paedophiles and child sex networks.

A former Australian diplomat hanged himself in his cell in 2004 after he was jailed
for 13 years on child sex offences.

AAP jb/sb/jt/sd

KEYWORD: INDON AUST

) 2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.