David Fletcher Denied a Retrial in Cambodian Rape Case

[CEOCambodiaNews]

David Fletcher denied a 're-trial' despite 27th Oct promise from judges that he would receive one

James Ricketson's letter to Dr Kek Pung, LICADHO President:





Dear Dr Pung

If any representative of LICADHO had been present in court this morning they would have seen, with their own eyes, prison guards confiscating from David Fletcher documents that he wished to present to the court. They would have seen myself, in frustration, grab these documents from the guard holding them and thrust them into the hands of a clerk of the court. They would have seen these same prison guards then making frantic phone calls – to find out, it would appear, what to do about the documents that they did not wish the court to see. And, perhaps, what to do about me!

Three days ago, when David Fletcher tried to hand me these and other documents in prison, he was prevented from doing so by prison authorities.

Prison authorities have clearly been given their instructions: Do not allow any documents from David Fletcher to be presented to the court.

This was not an auspicious beginning to David Fletcher’s ‘re-trial.’ In reality it was to be his first trial, given that the one which occurred in 2011, at which he was not present and could not present a defense, breached pretty well every part of the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure.

Some way into the proceedings, after the main judge had admonished me for sitting incorrectly in court, it became apparent that this was not a re-trial at all. Despite the promises made by the judges on 27th Oct that this would be a re-trial, the judges had changed their minds. It was only a hearing. And, contrary to the promises made on 27th Oct that Mr Fletcher would be able to call witnesses, present evidence to the court and conduct a defense, it was decided by the learned judges that he could do none of these things. He could not even make a statement to the court.

The ‘re-trial’ today had been rebranded as a ‘hearing’ and the result of the hearing was that the judges determined that Mr Fletcher was not entitled to a retrial – regardless of the promises these same judges made on 27th Oct.

If LICADHO representatives had been present in court they would have noted that the court appointed lawyer knew so little about the case that it had to be pointed out to her that Yang Dany was a woman! She spoke to David Fletcher for no more than 2 minutes before the court proceedings began and said nothing in court.

If LICADHO representatives had been present in court they could not have failed to be impressed with the speed with which the judges prepared their judgment. Late in the morning, having heard no evidence (having refused to hear any) and having refused to allow David Fletcher to present any evidence, they adjourned for 15 minutes to consider whether or not to allow David Fletcher the re-trial they had said he was entitled to a few weeks earlier. 15 minutes later they re-appeared with a long statement written in Khmer. It took the main judge about five minutes to read it out. The document had clearly been prepared before the court case began. The court proceedings had been a farce.

Of course, no representatives of LICADHO were present in court to witness this travesty; to witness with their own eyes the corrupt Cambodian judiciary at work. The same applies for the British Embassy which will, if past performance is anything to go by, cite today’s ‘hearing’ as having been in accordance with Cambodian law.

I will leave it to you, Dr Pung , to join the dots.

- APLE tells the key witness to go to China and not be present in court.

- Prison authorities prevent Mr Fletcher from sending documents to the court.

- These same prison authorities prevent Mr Fletcher from presenting documents to the court in front of many witnesses.

- The judges renege on their promise of a re-trial and re-brand this mornings proceedings as a ‘hearing’ – a hearing at which no evidence can be presented.

- And then a judgment read to the court that had clearly been prepared before today’s proceedings.

How much evidence do you need, Dr Pung, before LICADHO will acknowledge, in public, that David Fletcher’s legal and human rights have been abrogated; that the judges in the Phnom Penh Municipal Court have been induced to breach the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure to see to it that David Fletcher does not receive a fair (or any) trial.

LICADHO is now......

...click link to continue reading...

https://cambodia440.blogspot.ca/2014/11/ ... l.html?m=1

[Digg3r]

Is there any other versions if what went on at the courthouse?

I'd hate to think that an innocent (of that charge) person would be sentenced to 10 years without trial and denied a "retrial".

If this is indeed the case, who did David Fletcher piss off?

That said, there was certainly "circumstantial evidence" that could be construed to improper activity out at the dump.

[General Chatter]

I have not seen any of the evidence , but this seems like rough justice.

[keeping_it_riel]

Let's put everything in context and please bear in mind that I have no responsibility for what the inept local law enforcement did after Fletcher's arrest but.......

In 2009, i was contacted by a number of genuine. decent folk who'd got involved with Fletcher's rubbish dump unregistered charity who had major concerns about Fletcher. To summarize, these concerns were that:

a) Fletcher was behaving inappropriately with girls when out at the dump, taking very young girls off to hotels on his own etc.

b) Fletcher was siphoning off donations sent to the dump project via his own bank account.

We discussed and made public these concerns on K440 and then an interesting thing happened. I was contacted by a man known to Fletcher in the UK who gave us info that Fletcher had done time in the UK for grooming and molesting a 15 year old girl in the 1990s who'd worked for him as a 'Saturday girl' at a hairdressers Fletcher had at that time owned.

This was in the mid 1990s prior to the internet so there were no online news reports. Therefore, we had our contact go to the public library in the relevant UK town and search through newspaper microfilms until we found the contemporaneous news report. We then had the evidence we needed for the next step.

It was clear to us that Fletcher was not someone who should be around vulnerable young girls. I decided to take the story to a journalist and initially we spoke to the UK Independent, a serious broadsheet and they were interested. After a few weeks, this fizzled out and Fletcher was still doing his dump runs and still accessing young girls, so we took the story to Andrew Drummond ex UK Times but now freelance and based in Bangkok.

He flew here, and we connected him with the Rubbish Dump project guys who initially came to me then Drummond did his story which was published in a UK tabloid. Not long after, Fletcher did a runner to Bangkok.

We now know that at the very least Fletcher was using his dump project to access very young girls, take them to hotels and strip them naked.

I've also been told that other very young girls, 'Saturday' assistants at Fletcher's UK hairdressers in the 1990s have since come forward and made their own historical allegations against him. He is said to have date-rape drugged them, abused them, taken photos and then blackmailed them to have sex or he'd show their friends the photos he'd taken. If and when Fletcher returns to the UK, he will have outstanding business.

So let's get something clear - Fletcher is not a good man. In fact, I'd describe him as a wicked man and a menace. We also know local law enforcement are inept. However, I think it would be entirely wrong to label Fletcher as 'innocent' because the legal system here is not fit for purpose. He's far from innocent and has a high degree of moral and ethical responsibility for his current situation.

[frank lee bent]

fletch is undeniably a piece of shit.
i ran into him in 2008 and immediately smelled a wrong'un.

[Digg3r]

KiR (happy to have you over here by the way), with all due respect, you speak of allegations that he was molesting underage girls in Cambodia. Where are the witnesses? Where are the victims?
He is jailed for raping a young but legal virgin. As inappropriate as the relationship between them was the fact that she was above the age of consent in Cambodia (and most other jurisdictions) and apparently still a virgin after the fact I am wondering why he is serving a ten year sentence.

He may be a creep and may have done things illegal but he should be tried fairly in front of his peers to prove his guilt or innocence.

If he did not rape this young woman he should not be in prison for it. If he had molested and/or raped anyone he should be tried for that.

Having been accused of the sickest of crimes by a Khmer tabloid publication myself hell, I'm glad I wasn't tried in absentia like Fletcher. If I was, and deported to Cambodia I sure as hell would like a trial.

[keeping_it_riel]

Hi Digg3r

I'm not defending the legal process that led to Fletcher's jailing here at all. We all know that the criminal justice system here is more than flawed - it's corrupt and unfit for purpose. My point is that Fletcher is a wrong 'un who in a more civilized society would have been kept away from vulnerable young people. Instead, he chose to come to Cambodia and embark on a course of action that has led to this. Therefore, he has some moral and ethical responsibility for his predicament. He came to a dangerous place and did dangerous, immoral things and this is the result.

[frank lee bent]

mofo is an out and out predator and slimy huckster. ever see his "books" ( financial statements ) Richard?
i did not bother- he offered to let me see them at B and B because i would not give him any money.

this was in walkabou i might add, where i was trying to enjoy a 10 AM beer quietly when he and his greasy mate tried to pester me.

in a few minutes, i left to escape their vile company.

afraid they might spike my drink.

greasy fuckers of the worst sort.

[phuketrichard]

ever see his "books" ( financial statements ) Richard?

yes,they were a joke, missing receipts, just numbers written down etc etc.

When he started to make $$ is when we all started to question things and Rxxx was placed in charge of the $$ to be more transparent and receipts were issued for donations.
BUT this is after the pay pal site was started but there in lies one of the problems as the account was linked to Davids private account an he was getting international donations

IMHO
Drumomd and APLE over exaggerated to make a good story

PS the girl he is "Accused" of raping was 16 an he wanted to give her mom money to marry her when she turned 17 which i am told is the legal age to be married in Cambodia

He was no saint for sure some of his actions were at times questionable but he did lots of good at Steung Menchaey when NO OTHER people/organizations were

[keeping_it_riel]

BUT this is after the pay pal site was started but there in lies one of the problems as the account was linked to Davids private account an he was getting international donations

That was the major complaint that I heard. Did anyone know for sure large sums were going in there and being redirected?

The other complaint which came to me directly from a witness who'd been volunteering there was that Fletcher had been meeting very young girls from the dump offsite, at hotels to give them unsupervised 'haircuts'.

Whatever, I'll get back my central point that a convicted child sex offender should not have been able to embark on a project that gave him access to vulnerable children.