By Janelle Retka |
A Siem Reap City bar owner and real estate developer was convicted last week in Australia of 10 counts of sexual abuse involving children and had his bail revoked, according to court records.
Anthony Munro, 71, was arrested on his return to his home country after living for at least six years in Siem Reap City, where he owned the Station Wine Bar and developed a nearby luxury condominium complex.
In 2014, Siem Reap police and child protection group Action Pour Les Enfants opened an investigation into Mr. Munro over the alleged sexual abuse of two boys, according to Samleang Seila, the organization’s country director. The case is ongoing.
During a hearing at the Adelaide Magistrates Court in August, Mr. Munro confessed to sex crimes involving numerous victims on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island, Rapid Bay and in the Glenelg suburb between 1965 and 1983.
He remained on bail, however, until a hearing before Judge Paul Slattery at the District Court of South Australia last Friday, where he was convicted of all 10 counts and was placed in custody, court records show.
Mr. Munro is set to appear before the judge again on February 20 to submit evidence and be sentenced.
According to his lawyer, Stephen Ey, Mr. Munro is likely being held in the Yatala Labor Prison in Adelaide, the state’s capital. Mr. Ey said his client would likely receive “a significant term of imprisonment,” but he would not be more specific.
“We are realistic that he is going to get an immediate term in prison, and that is why we asked that our bail be canceled last Friday, so he starts serving his sentence,” he said on Thursday.
Mr. Munro was previously convicted of sexual abuse in 1992 and was sentenced to seven months in prison, records show. Australian media have reported that the victim was an 11-year-old boy.
Earlier this year, he was also interviewed by investigators over the 50-year-old unsolved disappearance of three siblings from an Adelaide beach.
Source: https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/siem-reap-bar-owner-guilty-sexually-abusing-children-122070/
