Dear David Boyle
On 21st March
2011, the Phnom Penh Post published an article entitled “Thailand To Extradite
UK Rape Suspect”, written by Cheang Sokha. The article contained some
inaccuracies that have never been corrected.
“THAILAND has
reportedly ordered the extradition of a British man wanted in Cambodia on
charges of sexually assaulting two underage girls.”
Mr Fletcher was not and has
never been charged with “sexually assaulting two underage girls”
“David Fletcher,
65, fled the Kingdom last year after the British tabloid The Sunday Mirror
alleged that he was using a charity he had founded, the Rubbish Dump project,
to gain access to young girls at the Stung Meanchey dump site in Phnom Penh.”
Mr Fletcher did not ‘flee’
Cambodia. He had arranged to leave Cambodia well before Andrew Drummond’s
article was published. This is well documented.
“Samleang Seila,
director of the child rights group Action Pour Les Enfants, said Fletcher was
set to stand trial at Phnom Penh Municipal Court on March 31 for allegedly
raping two underage girls. Cambodian and Thai officials are still in the
process of arranging Fletcher’s return, Samleang Seila said.”
Either Samleang Seila has
been misquoted by the Phnom Penh Post or he is a liar. Mr Fletcher has never
been charged with “raping two underage girls.”
Given that Mr Fletcher was
not charged with the rape of two girls, why has the Phnom Penh Post never
questioned Samleang Seila about his false allegation and published a retraction?
By allowing this information to remain in the public domain, uncorrected, the
Phnom Penh Post has contributed to the destruction of Mr Fletcher’s reputation.
As you are well aware, David,
I have conducted two interviews with Yang Dany and her mother in which they
both deny that any rape took place. This should come as no surprise to anyone
who had bothered to look at the court document (see attached) in which a doctor
declared that Yang Dany’s hymen was intact; that she remained a virgin after
two alleged ‘brutal rapes’. For all of those involved in the pursuit and
prosecution of David Fletcher, knowledge of Yang Dany’s virginity has been
known since September 2010.
I have learned today that
APLE has arranged not only for Yang Dany not to be present in court on 20th
Nov but not to be in Cambodia at all. Why is it that the Phnom Penh Post does
not expose APLE as an NGO that plays fast and loose with facts, truth and
evidence in order to maintain a constant stream of convictions that it can then
use to secure further funding? Why is it that corrupt NGOs are able to breach
the human and legal rights of both Cambodians and non-Cambodians secure in the
knowledge that the Phnom Penh Post will turn a blind eye?
I trust that you may prove
me wrong in my presumptions about the Phnom Penh Post; that you will take an
interest in the fate of Mr Fletcher – especially given that your newspaper has
published details of his case that are demonstrably factually incorrect. I
trust that the Phnom Penh Post will ask APLE if it is true that Yang Dany will
not be appearing in court on 20th Nov and why the NGO has arranged
for her to leave the country?
If the Phnom Penh Post is
interested in viewing the interviews I have conducted with Yang Dany, and which
present the evidence she would have presented in court if APLE had not arranged
for her to leave the country, I will courier it to you on a USB over the
weekend.
If I get no response at all
to this email I will work on the presumption that you have no intention of
correcting the errors of fact published by the Phnom Penh Post; that you have
no intention of asking Samleang Seila, Ana G. Pinheiro or Thierry
Darnaudet to explain just why it is that the NGO has told Yang Dany that she
will get $5,000 if she persists with her rape allegations despite all the
evidence (including her own admissions) that she was not raped.
Corrupt NGOs such as APLE
should be shut down but they will not be for as long as the media publishes
whatever lies the NGO tells and asks no questions.
best wishes
James Ricketson
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