Glitter gets 3 years in Vietnam jail for child sex
VUNG TAU - A Vietnamese court sentenced British "glam rocker" Gary Glitter to three years in jail on Friday for molesting two 11-year-old girls, although if he wins early parole he could be free by Christmas.
"I'm innocent," the 61-year-old shaven-headed Glitter, who now sports a white goatee beard, shouted after the verdict was pronounced following a one-day, closed-door trial.
But Judge Hoang Thanh Tung described in graphic detail the offences committed by the 1970s pop icon in the southern resort town of Vung Tau, drawing gasps from ordinary Vietnamese packed into the courtroom along with dozens of foreign reporters.
"The court pronounces the defendant, Paul Francis Gadd, also known as Gary Glitter, guilty of engaging in lewd acts with children," said the judge, dressed in a sober black suit and dark blue tie.
The black-shirted Glitter, who had been told by the judge to remove his red bandana at the start of the 25-minute hearing, was buried in a scrum of photographers -- most of them from British tabloid newspapers -- after he protested against the verdict.
He lashed out afterwards at an unnamed British newspaper he blamed for his troubles.
"It's a conspiracy. You know who. One of Great Britain's newspapers," he told Reuters as he was escorted into a prison van by 10 green-uniformed policemen.
Defense lawyer Le Thanh Kinh said Glitter, who is already registered as a sex offender in Britain after a 1999 child porn conviction, would be eligible for parole one year from the date of his detention, in November 2005, as is customary in Vietnam.
The time he has already spent in prison will also be deducted from his sentence. The judge said he would be deported from the communist southeast Asian nation at the end of his sentence.
Glitter had 15 days to appeal but had yet to decide whether to do so, Kinh told reporters. "That comes from him, not from me," he said.
"Not a normal person"
Chief investigator Colonel Nguyen Duc Trinh said he had recovered 2,231 images of child pornography from Glitter's computer and 31 video clips, opening the way for prosecution by police in Britain if he ends up there after his deportation.
The files were "mainly children making love to each other, or naked children," he told reporters. "Biologically, Glitter is not a normal person. A normal person would never store such photos."
Trinh said he thought Glitter might have abused more children.
British police, who can prosecute Britons for child sex crimes committed abroad, have questioned Glitter in jail and have been in contact with Vietnamese authorities, Trinh said. He would not divulge details of their discussions.
Glitter is likely to serve his sentence in his home for the past three months -- a two-man cell inside a windswept concrete prison, surrounded by AK-47-toting guards, mould-encrusted walls and coils of rusting razor wire.
The British embassy in Vietnam, which says Glitter has received fair treatment since his arrest at Ho Chi Minh airport trying to flee the country, made it clear that both governments were serious about punishing child sex tourists.
"UK nationals who travel abroad with the explicit intent to abuse children will remain the focus of UK law enforcement activity," a statement said.
Ordinary Vietnamese in the courtroom for the unprecedented trial felt Glitter had got off lightly.
"It's too lenient. It should have heavier," said 46-year-old housewife Tran Thi Gam.
By Ho Binh Minh - Reuters - March 3, 2006.
Confusion, curiosity at Glitter trial in Vietnam
VUNG TAU - Communist Vietnam has never seen scenes like it -- dozens of foreign reporters, TV cameramen and photographers engulfing a defendant outside a courthouse.
Normally, trials in the southeast Asian nation are conducted in secret, the verdict and sentence announced in the official newspapers or on state-run television.
But for Thursday's trial of British glam rocker
Gary Glitter on child molestation charges, authorities are breaking new ground in transparency and openness, trying to demonstrate to the world that Vietnam is a wholesome family-oriented tourist destination.
In a series of firsts, foreign reporters have been briefed on court proceedings and invited into the courthouse compound to photograph and question the 61-year-old on his arrival and departure from the one-day hearing.
They will also be allowed into the courtroom itself for the verdict, due to be handed down at 10 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Friday. Glitter denies the charges, and insists he was just teaching the girls English.
At its opening, the trial produced chaotic scenes as baton-wielding but nervous police failed to contain the media pack, who surged toward Glitter as he emerged for a dark green prison van.
Glitter is still slender, but former his bouffant locks have thinned and grayed and were hidden beneath a black baseball cap. A long goatee protruded from his chin.
But he appeared to be enjoying the attention, turning swiftly to face the reporters and photographers -- many of whom could have been teenage fans at the height of his fame -- when they called out his name.
The black-clad rock star, jailed for child pornography offences in Britain in 1999, was jostled in the scrum and at least one photographer was knocked down as Glitter was pushed up a flight of steps to the courtroom.
"I have never seen anything like this," said 36-year-old housewife Phan Thi Ngoc Anh, who was standing outside the yellow concrete court house in Vung Tau, a resort town 120 km (70 miles) southeast of Ho Chi Minh City.
"At first I thought there was a ceremony to inaugurate the nice new building and I thought all the foreign reporters had come to cover the good news," she said, her face shielded from the searing tropical sun by a conical straw hat.
There is also confusion as to the precise age of the two girls who prosecutors say were Glitter's victims.
One government official told a news conference the two were aged 13 and under 13 "when they were victimized." However, dates of birth given out by other officials suggest they are now aged only 12 and 11.
In much of Asia, people are deemed to be aged one the day they are born and two a year later.
By whichever yardstick, they are both below the age of sexual consent, which is 16 in Vietnam.
There are worries among the traveling press, some of whom have pursued Glitter in Cuba and Cambodia since his release from a British prison in early 2000, that people might get hurt in a courtroom scrum when the verdict is announced.
"They're going to have to sort out something, because otherwise that furniture is going to be matchwood," said one tabloid reporter.
By Ed Cropley - Reuters - March 2, 2006.
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