David Fletcher is writing a book about his experiences
in Cambodia.
Here are some extracts from chapter 21, dealing with
his experiences working in the Phnom Penh rubbish dump at roughly the same time
that Scott Neeson started work there.
Neeson did not like the idea of
competition and so accused Mr Fletcher of grooming young girls. He had no
evidence that Mr Fletcher was doing any such thing. It was malice, pure and
simple, on the part of a man who saw his opportunity for fame, for glory and
for great riches, and was not going to let anyone stand in his way.
CHAPTER 21
STORIES
from the DUMP
This
chapter is a collection of stories of individual incidents, experiences and
impressions of six years working on the dump for these poor forgotten
malnourished people, the 530 families and 2000 children.
Every
time I visited the dump there was yet another story of heartbreak and hardship.
I am sure that many of you kind people that were involved with me and came
along and helped, will recognise that you were there at the time and kindly
contributed to help alleviate the poverty of these families. These stories are
very close to my heart because I was always right in the middle, good, bad,
indifferent. I was there and it always pulled my heart strings.
For
those that are reading this and remember our efforts, I thank you so much for
your kindness and compassion for these children.
THE
LITTLE BOY
I
noticed a mother carrying a little boy of about five years old to the truck for
food just about every time we went to the dump, the boy was small for his age,
but this is not unusual for Khmers, especially for a child living on the dump.
The mother would come to get a double ration of food, but always carrying the
little boy with his legs covered with a blanket. One day the crew asked me to
come and have a look at something, it was the boys legs, one of them was
severely broken and twisted in four places between his knee and foot, it looked
totally mangled. His other leg was very frail and thin because of no muscle, it
had never been used because he was not able to walk on his 'good leg' it was
skin and bone because the mother had always carried him everywhere. After
talking with the mother, I learned that this was yet another case of the K.R.
Government not caring for its people. Apparently the injuries were
sustained when he was born. Yet another incompetent doctor untrained, delivered
the little boy as a 'breach birth', apparently he pulled and twisted the boys
legs to pull him out, in the process braking and destroying one.
The little boy
obviously would never walk without professional treatment, he was condemned to
being carried around by his mother until she was too old or weak , then he
would have a life, shuffling around the streets begging on a skate
board. The Cambodian government does not provide any medical care or assistance
for such cases, despite having billions for mansions, cars, planes and
helicopters for so called V.I.P.s and 'khmer Riche' to travel around in. The
mother could not speak English and in my ignorance I could not speak Khmer, so
through a translator I promised to do what I could for her son, she smiled and
gave me a grateful Khmer thank you.
Thinking,
later on in the day, my mind went back to the Americans man who came to see me
and offered help for the children from the American Embassy, ' if I ever needed
help' he said 'call me'. So I did. I explained the situation and
said if there was anything he could do, I would be very grateful. He said he
would call me back later that afternoon. The American Embassy, thankfully, was
always sympathetic to children in distress, unlike the Australian and British
Embassies. The American was good for his word. Wow! An expat that keeps his
word! To be fair, this guy had always followed through with his promises, so it
is unfair that I should compare him with the majority of pleb expats in Phnom
Penh. He arranged for the little boy to visit an American surgeon the next day.
He explained the surgery would be free of charge, but we would have to provide
the transport to and from the hospital, as they did not have the man power to do this. He said he did not think it would be
a problem for us to do this, he was right! Next day I got the little boy to see
the surgeon.
It
turned out he was going to need surgery at least four or five times, this was
going to be a drain on our funds and resources, but we all chipped in and of
course it was well worth it. He finished up having six operations, we covered
the cost of the transport and food. We gave the mother extra food each time he
came out of hospital so she could stay home with him and nurse him. You cannot
get better nursing than mother!
Then
came the day for him to take his first steps and try to walk, he arrived at the
bar and restaurant straight from the hospital. All the helpers were there for
the event, disappointingly not the ' good old boys' Ross Wright, Robin and
Tony, who were suffering from hangovers.
We
had bought the little boy a bicycle and we had removed the pedals so he could
push himself around to strengthen his legs and feet. His leg was in a plaster
cast of course to well above his knee, his mother put him down and he started
to cry, not because he was in pain, but because he wanted mothers attention, he
stood and took his first steps in his life at six years old, what a wonderful
moment for all of us!
This
small miracle happened because one guy from the American Embassy had a big
heart. I feel proud to have played a small role in making it possible.
Another
story from the dump tomorrow
Stop insulting the children he has groomed, taken advantage of and abused. Fletcher is a convicted child sex offender. You should be ashamed of yourself Mr. Ricketson for portraying this guy as a saint. And before you rant on about me being team Neeson - I am not - I am a female & mother with 2 young children - and this disgusts me!
ReplyDeleteRachel
ReplyDeleteWhat evidence do you have that Mr Fletcher has groomed any children? If you have evidence, present it here. If you know of my evidence, directed both myself and my readers towards it. The only evidence you have is the word of Scott Neeson - whom I have asked, countless times, to produce his evidence. He has none.
I am not portraying Mr Fletcher as any sort of saint. ANd he would not (and do4s not) portryy himself as such,. However, there is a huge difference between 'not being a saint' and being someone who grooms and abuses children. The fact that you are a mother (I am a father, so what!) does not give you some God-gven right to decide who is and who is not an abuser of children. Such matters are to be decided by duly constituted courts of law. If Mr Fletcher is guilty of abusing children let him be found guilty on the basis of evidence and not scuttlebutt and hearsay. Mr Fletcher has not been charged with either grooming or sexually abusing children in Cambodia. If you have evidence that he should be, take it to the relevant authorities and stop acting like prosecutor, judge and jury and using your motherhood as justification for doing so.
James - please spare me the soap opera. A conviction in the UK says he abused an underage girl. A conviction in Cambodia says he abused a young girl. I keep reading comments from you and your supporters stating that we need evidence to prove Fletcher is guilty. Well Im sorry to rain on your parade, but 2 convictions by constituted courts proves he is guilty. Now I know you and your supporters think that the UK and Cambodian courts aren't real courts and that individuals from the highest levels of parliament, police and CEO's of NGO's have all conspired to set Fletcher up - but we do live in a real world these days and the reality is Fletcher was found guilty previously and served time in jail in the UK, he was found guilty again and is now serving time in jail in Cambodia.
ReplyDeleteUntil you can produce evidence that categorically proves Fletcher has never engaged in any activity that might constitute taking advantage of underage girls, then I will continue my stand and state that putting Fletcher in some saintly light as you have done, allowing him to provide stories on your blog, is in my opinion, very disturbing.
Rachel
DeleteYou and Team Neeson share one thing in common, at least - a refusal to et the facts play any role at all in your assessment of what constitututes justice. You have a fixed idea in your brain and will stick with that regardless. Facts:
(1) In 1998 Mr Fletvher was found guilty of having had consensual sex with an underage girl. He served a 7 month prison sentence.
Are you suggesting that because of this be must, by definition, be guilty of raping Yang Dany - despite her denials and despite the medical report that made it clear she remained a virgin (hymen intact) after the alleged rapes?
(2) Mr Fletcher has NOT been charged with, let alone found guilty f, 'absuing a y9ung girl'. He was found guity, in absentia, contrary to the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure, of having raped Yang Dany - a young woman whom before she was whisked off to China by APLE, denied being raped.
A question for you you:
Do you believe that any accused (including Mr Fletcher) is entitled to a fair triial? Or are your instincts as a mother, combined with scuttlebutt you have ingestd, sufficient reason for a man to be found guilty?
The following statement of yours is worth quoting in full." Until you can produce evidence that categorically proves Fletcher has never engaged in any activity that might constitute taking advantage of underage girls..."
Think about what you have just written, Rachel, Think really hard. Now answer me this question" "Can you categorically prove that you have never engaged in activity that might constitute taking advantage of underage girls?
Come on, Rachel, prove that you haven't.
What you are suggesting here is arrant nonsense. it is up to the legal system to prove that a crime has been committed. It is not up to the accused to prove that he or she did not commit a crime.
Let me ask you another questions, Rachel. Do you, personally, have any evidence at all that Mr Fletcher was grooming young girls? A simple 'yes' and 'no' will suffice.
As for convicting people on the basis of scuttlebutt, I would like to add here that Cambodia (amongst the expat community) thrives on rumour inuendo and scuttlebutt. Like everyone else I have heard countless stories about what X, Y and Z have got up to in this bar and that; who likes to have sex with young virgins, who runs an NGO set up to protect kids whilst at the same time running a bar with underage girls working in it. The stories are legion. Some may be true. Many many not. In a world in which Rachel Matters called the shots, all these men, on he basis of rumour and innuendo, would be required to provide you with evidence that the rumours were not true. You would feel under no obligation to prove that they were true.
DISTURBED is the correct description for you, Rachel Matters. Totally DISTURBED!!
DeleteIn the world of Rachel Matters all men are guilty by virtue of the fact that they are men. "Prove that you have never raped a woman?" shrieks Rachel Matters, mother of two. "These, see," she continues, "you can't prove that you haven't raped a woman so you are obviously a rapist."'
DeleteYou are dong the female gender a huge disservice, Ms Mattters, with your lack of logic
It is a great story. James. I worked with David at the dump and can attest to his good work. What a tragedy that lies by Neeson had resulted in the children losing out on David's good work, that he did without taking the children from their families.
ReplyDeleteAnother kids spending time at Fletcher's girly bar, the place where most of his donations ended up:
ReplyDelete"I saw things that involved him that made me and others very uncomfortable and we often would confront him in his bar about them but he shrugged them off, same goes with some of the money that was raised to buy food for the kids that did not make it out of the bar"
Sounds like scuttlebut, you are no better than Neeson. Have you also taken over 700 children from their mothers? Where is your proof?
DeleteDear Team Neeson (Anonymous 8.06)
DeleteWhat a cowardly lot you are! I think that Rachel matters is way off beam with her naive belief in every bit of scuttlebutt she hears but at least she has the courage of her convictions and signs her name to what she writes. Not so Team Neeson, hiding always behind a wall of Anonmymity.
So, here we have a quote. From someone unnamed. S/he felt 'very uncomfortable' and 'would confront him in his bar about them'.
Right, here is your opportunity to confront David Fletcher in public. What did you see that made you uncomfortable? And did you report what you saw to any authorities?
There is a great deal wrong with this sort of anonymous scuttlebutt. This is what Khmer440 of old thrived upon. It mattered not if there was any truth to the scuttlebutt. It made for great reading and the Khmer440 page hit rates went up and the likes of Peter Hogan found it all very entertaining.
"I saw a very well known and high profile NGO working with children disappear into his bedroom with a girl who was no older than 15. This was witnessed by two others. Our jaws dropped. We could not believe he was being so careless."
There you go, what do you make of that? Is this a true quote or did I just make it up?
If you have evidence that Mr Fletcher, or anyone else, is guilty of grooming children or worse the appropriate course of action is to report it to the police - not to wait till 5 years later, put your concerns in quotes and publish them anonymously on a blog.
As for the money that was raised to buy food for the kids that did not make it out of the bar, how did you figure this out?
Fletch's own supporters knew he was taking the money for themselves, so they started their own NGO, where they list their donations every month. (CHOICE)
ReplyDeleteThis blog is nothing but thousands of unnamed, unreferenced, "scuttlebutt" comments and made up stories here, which you then base your posts on, and no you jump on your high horse?
The proof that Fletch is a letch? Two convictions (that we can talk about publicly),
Looks to me that the Team Neeson's concerns are growing about this blog. Great job James!
DeleteDear Team Neeson (Anonymous 8.58)
ReplyDeleteWhat a tiresome and indefatigable lot you are. Within the last hour or so you have quoted an unnamed source as saying they felt 'uncomfortable', without expanding. Having had it pointed out to you that such scuttlebutt can be so easily manufactured, you now shift the goal posts to accuse Fletcher of fiddling the books.
Even if this were true (and both Fletcher the the man who kept his books say it is not) of what relevant is it to the question of whether or not David Fletcher raped Yang Dany?
Team Neeson is so determined to blacken Mr Fletcher's name in any and every way it can that it must resort to accusing him of skimming money from the top of donations received. Really!
Scott, if you are going to outsource your comments to unnamed trolls, at least find some who pay at least lip service to the concept of logic.
And, for whichever member of Tram Neeson has written this, please answer at least one question that has been put to Scott Neeson this past six months. For instance, the one about why it is that Neeson claims it costs $4,000 a year to care for one child in residential care? Or the one about why he refuses to allow parents to retain copies of contracts they enter into with CCF?Or why CCF locks families out of their houses for being $12.50 behind in their rent? And so on.
No, you will answer none of these questions but will come back with more scuttlebutt about David Fletcher that has zero to do with whether or not he is guilty of raping Yang Dany.
I saw David Fletcher driving the wrong way up a one way street one time in 2009. He obviously has no respect for the law therefore must have raped Yang Dany :-)
ReplyDeleteYeah, right on brother. He poured a beer for me one time and overcharged me 10 cents so he must have raped that girl
DeleteHe glanced at a lovely lady as she walked down the sidewalk....he must have raped that virgin.
DeleteAny reason why you deleted my response this morning James?
ReplyDeleteRachel
DeleteI hav only just seen this. I can assure you I have never deleted any comment from you. Only on 3 or 4 occasions have I deleted comments and these were all defamatory. Anyone and everyone is free to say what they like here - as long as it is not defamatory.