Lack of evidence led to Briton's paedophile acquittal
Insufficient evidence has led a court to acquit a British banker charged with sexually abusing three boys in Thailand, according to a copy of the ruling.
Lionel Peter McCarthy was freed on March 2 after the Chonburi Provincial Court ruled that the testimony of his alleged victims contradicted the statements they made earlier to the police.
McCarthy, 53, was arrested on September 28, 1999, at the Jomtien Complex Hotel at the Thai beach resort of Pattaya in the company of three naked boys aged 12 and 13.
The boys told the police during the investigation that McCarthy had molested them.
He was charged with removing underage boys from home, detaining them and forcing them to provide sexual service - crimes punishable by up to 20 years in jail.
He pleaded innocent and had been free on bail throughout his trial in Pattaya.
As his case dragged on, it slipped from newspaper headlines and his acquittal went unnoticed and was confirmed by the court only after The Associated Press made a routine inquiry last week.
The present whereabouts of McCarthy, a senior executive at HSBC bank in Hong Kong at the time of his arrest, are not known. The British Embassy said it has no information either.
Two mothers had testified in court that they gave their sons permission to spend the night with McCarthy.
The three boys also testified that the defendant did not molest them or force them to perform sexual acts, it said. Although police found the boys with the defendant, the officers did not actually see him molesting them, the ruling said.
It said the state prosecutor presented no witness to prove that the defendant sexually abused the boys. Moreover, one mother accused the police of forcing her to make the allegations against McCarthy, it said.
