VIETNAM/ FILE: Vietnam might release former British pop star Gary Glitter on bail while police investigate child sex allegations

Record ID: 721363

  • Title: VIETNAM/ FILE: Vietnam might release former British pop star Gary Glitter on bail while police investigate child sex allegations
  • Date: 1st December 2005
  • Summary: EXTERIOR OF PRISON WITH HERD OF GOATS WALKING PAST
  • Embargoed: 16th December 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAQHP0S0RWYMX9XJV9IYKMT3MQ
  • Story Text: A Vietnamese official has told Reuters it's likely British pop star gary Glitter will be granted bail, but he'll be required to stay in Vietnam. Glitter has denied allegations he molested girls as young as 12 and insists he was just helping them with their English. The Vietnamese authorities have received a 40,000 U.S. dollar bail application from Glitter's lawyers, although one official said he would not be allowed to leave the country if he was released. "It is likely we will let him have bail and he can stay anywhere in Vietnam pending his trial," the official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. Glitter, who has been charged with child molestation, is in prison in Vung Tau, could face the death penalty if convicted. "The charge of raping children is an extremely serious crime which has the higher penalty, which is the death sentence," said senior officer Lieutenant-Colonel Nguyen Duc Trinh. "That's why it requires extreme caution during the investigation process and only when there is legitimate evidence it is possible to press the charge," he added. Lieutenant-Colonel Trinh said Glitter had applied for bail. "Two days ago he made an application to deposit money to stay on bail. We have not looked into this issue," he said. But Le Thanh Kinh, Glitter's lawyer, said that the 1970s rock icon would be held for at least one more month in a detention centre in Vung Tau for questioning before any bail was granted. "To establish if he is guilty on that charge or not a process of investigation is required, and the medical examination results should also be reviewed in relation to that charge. I think that at this point of time those are only preliminary assessments," he said. Last week, Vietnamese police charged 61-year-old Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, with "engaging in perverse activities with children" and ordered him to remain in custody pending a three-month investigation. The age of consent in the communist southeast Asian nation is 16 and sex with minors is punishable by up to 12 years in jail. Authorities have not given details of their investigations, but state-run newspapers said last week police had identified 10 girls who admitted to having had sex with Glitter. Glitter was sentenced to four months in jail in Britain in 1999 after being found guilty of storing more than 4,000 images of child pornography on the hard drive of his computer.
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