NZ man goes on trial over Thai sex tour

[StrontiumDog]

NZ man goes on trial over Thai sex tour

NZ man goes on trial over Thai sex tour

Alastair Bull

October 31, 2011 - 10:54AM

AAP

An Auckland man organised a tour to Thailand for an undercover policeman which included advice on seeking sex with boys under 18 and an itinerary including places where he could do so, a judge has been told.

The accused man, 47, who cannot be named, told the client where he could pick up boys, motels he could use, and gave him a card which included explicit Thai phrases for picking up boys under 18, the Crown says.

Prosecutor Natalie Walker laid out the accusations on Monday, the first day of the trial in the High Court in Auckland, on charges of organising a child sex tour and of promoting a child sex tour on his website.

Ms Walker said an undercover officer was assigned to approach the accused after an airport search in December 2009 found a thumb drive with photos of the accused with his arm around "teenage-looking males" and a card including Thai phrases of how to ask for specific sexual acts.

The officer, who cannot be named but who used the name "Michael Gray", indicated a preference for "boys without hair", which Ms Walker said meant pre-pubescent males.

Defence lawyer Chris Wilkinson-Smith said the accused made it clear in an email on July 1 last year that he did not want to assist "Mr Gray" to do anything illegal.

Ms Walker said the accused subsequently "came up with suggestion after suggestion to help fulfil Mr Gray's desires".

The accused's website offered guided tours of Thailand "catering to your interests and desires" (the word your in italics), which Ms Walker said was a suggested and coded reference to unlawful sexual activity.

The website's metadata - keywords not on the viewable pages but which were behind the website - included "gay", "gay sex", and "boy", she said.

Mr Wilkinson-Smith said the viewable website pages never promoted anything illegal, and that the term "boy" in Thailand could refer to people 18 and over.

The trial before Justice Edwin Wylie alone is expected to take two weeks.

[sabaii sabaii]

Mr Wilkinson-Smith said the viewable website pages never promoted anything illegal, and that the term "boy" in Thailand could refer to people 18 and over.

Yeah right

The website's metadata - keywords not on the viewable pages but which were behind the website - included "gay", "gay sex", and "boy", she said.

Guilty

[bobo746]

told the client where he could pick up boys, motels he could use, and gave him a card which included explicit Thai phrases for picking up boys under 18

Thats him gone then.Good riddance.

[BobR]

The guy is scum and deserves prison, but the lawyer in me wonders about the legal sustainability of this case since the age of consent in Thailand apparently is 15.

[BKKBanger]

A lot of it about, if true and found to be so by the court he deserves a hefty sentence.

The legal age of consent is not 15 for paid sexual acts between two males. In fact if you showed say a 15 year old Thai boy and a 47 year old Kiwi in flagrante to the average Thai man you would see a good beating.