Cambodia court sentences two Germans to prison for child sex abuse

The associated press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Two Germans who worked as English teachers in Cambodia were among five people sentenced Friday to prison terms for sexually abusing four Vietnamese girls, a crime that one of the girl's mothers was an accomplice to.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced Karl Heinz Henning, 61, to 28 years in prison on charges of human trafficking and debauchery — a Cambodian legal term for sexual offenses against minors.

Police arrested Henning after they observed him bringing the girls, aged 10 to 14, to his Phnom Penh apartment. While police were searching the apartment, he tried to escape by jumping from his balcony to the ground, some four meters (13 feet) below, but crashed into a metal canopy and was arrested.

The court also handed a 12-year prison term to Thomas Sigwart Eugen, 42, on debauchery charges. Eugen was arrested after police saw him having sex with two of the girls on a videotape confiscated from Henning.

"The two Germans committed the crimes because they figured Cambodia is a poor country and that they could just use their dollars to buy sex to fulfill their urges," Judge Ke Sakhan said. "These are illegal acts Cambodia cannot tolerate."

Both men worked as private English teachers in Phnom Penh.

The Germans denied sexually abusing the girls during their trial March 1. Henning said the four girls had come to his house to learn English and computer skills from him.

A Vietnamese couple that acted as sex brokers for the Germans received 17-year prison terms each on charges of human trafficking. The couple worked with one of the girl's mothers, who was sentenced to 15 years in jail, also on human trafficking charges.

Phnom Penh's anti-human trafficking police arrested the two Germans in separate raids of their rented apartments in the capital, Phnom Penh, in August.

Eugen, speaking to reporters at the court Friday, said he was "quite shocked" by his prison sentence.

Child rights advocates say Cambodia's lax law enforcement has made it a destination for foreign pedophiles. However, police have recently stepped up action against offenders.

On Tuesday, the same court sentenced a Swiss man to 11 years in prison for sexually abusing a 12-year-old Cambodian girl.