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Paedophile gets bail
Paedophile gets bail !
BangkokPost.com from agency reports
Vancouver - A Canadian judge has granted bail to a convicted pervert wanted in Thailand for forcing an 8-year-old Thai boy into sex acts, for 33,000 baht (C$1,000) cash and a solemn promise not to hurt any more children.
Canadian media reported on Saturday Thailand time that the judge also imposed a ban on publication of evidence given at the bail hearing, stifling coverage of the court hearing.
Orville Frank Mader, 54, who has been convincted of paedophile crimes in Cambodia and is wanted in Pattaya, promised he would not go near playgrounds or libraries where children might be present. He could not immediately raise the original C$5,000 needed for bail, so the judge reduced the amount to $1,000, or 33,300 baht plus a promise not to do anything illegal.
The judge at the British Columbia provincial court hearing at nearby Abbotsford also made the convicted child abuser promise not to use a computer or cellphone that is connected to the Internet.
Another hearing is scheduled for Dec 3, assuming Mader does not flee again as he has from Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Prosecution spokesman Stan Lowe said Mader has not been charged with any crime. He was arrested after arriving in Canada on a flight from Vietnam as a possible danger to children.
His lawyer, Brian Coleman, said Mader is innocent of performing any sex crimes, according to the Canadian Press news agency.
"He has no history in Canada of any kind for this type of behaviour," Coleman said, ignoring the Cambodian conviction and the fact Mader has lived outside Canada for years.
Coleman said that Thailand has not begun extradition proceedings against Mader. His client will "absolutely" be fighting extradition to Thailand, he added.
Just one Canadian ever has been convicted of having sex with children overseas under a highly publicised but hardly used law. A Vancouver man named Donald Bakker was convicted in 2005, but the charges against him also included violence against Canadian prostitutes - meaning there have effectively been no cases ever laid by Canada against perverts involved in violence against children overseas.
The Canadian fled Thailand just ahead of a nationwide manhunt that began after police charged him with forcing an 8-year-old boy to have sex in a Pattaya hotel room.
Pattaya police issued an arrest warrant for Mader on Oct 31 in connection with the alleged sexual abuse.
Canadian authorities arrested and charged him after he arrived at Vancouver airport on Nov 1.
He was held by authorities under a protective order after a provincial court judge ruled he could pose a threat to children under the age of 14.
Public documents used to arrest Mader revealed that he was convicted in absentia in Cambodia of similar charges this year for offences committed three years ago. Canadian police also claim to have evidence of his sexual activity with young boys dating back to 2003.
The suspect - of slim build with short, dark hair and a scruffy goatee - was wearing a prison-issue orange jumpsuit as he listened intently to the presentations from a glass-enclosed booth in court, Canadian media reported.
