I've been following this story for a while now and it still has me scratching my head. From the Phuket Gazette:

PHUKET CITY: After spending more than five months in a Phuket jail, the German teenager arrested along with 43-year-old Briton Dax Young on child sex abuse charges in March is set to fly home next month.

The 18-year-old, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty at the Phuket juvenile court today and was handed a four-year suspended sentence and fined 17,000 baht.

He plans to fly home to Germany on August 18 and start a new life in Cologne.

The judgment brings to an end a saga that first came to public attention in March this year, when the youth was arrested together with Dax Young.

The pair were accused of sexually abusing boys as young as 9 years old.

Those who know the young man, including German diplomats involved in the case, believe he was a victim of Dax Young’s ascendancy, rather than a perpetrator.

The teenager was a minor when arrested, and claims he was forced to have sex with the boys by Mr Young, who threatened to make problems for the teenager’s family.

The cold, hard facts are that this lad was 17 when he was arrested, which is above the age of consent, yes? He was accused and admitted to having sex with boys under the age of consent. He then pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced.

So, he has been let off because people, including the media, it appears, "believe" he was manipulated by Dax Young. Previous reports suggested that the German youth pleaded guilty because the Thai legal system would never see him as a victim, rather than a perpetrator. So where's the proof he is a victim?

This is from a previous story:

German Ambassador to Thailand Dr Hanns Schumacher said, "…this youngster was irresponsibly left on the streets of Phuket at a very young age for years without any adult supervision. It is therefore no surprise that he was introduced to criminal company. This is the main reason we hope that at the end of the proceedings, [the youth] will be considered rather a victim and not a perpetrator."

That's vague, at best. Here's some more:

The boy, who confessed to conspiring with Mr Young to sexually abuse Thai boys as young as nine years old, allegedly appears in digitally recorded images seized as evidence.

The boy’s mother and sister insist he be released immediately and allowed to give evidence against Mr Young, 41, who denies the charges against him.

The boy was sexually abused by the older man for four years, the family claim.

The family "claim". That doesn't seem like proof to me. Has this been proved in a court of law or is this their word against Dax Young's? And this is the same family that abandoned the youth on the streets of Phuket for "years". Why should we trust them? What are we not being told here.

This is the part of the story that really confuses me:

Maj Gen Apirak said the German youth was renting a house with his mother in Rawai and has lived in Thailand for one year

There has been nothing offered as proof by the media or the police that the German youth should be let off with a suspended sentence.

Discuss.

I'm not sure when it happened as I've been out and about recently, but at some point this blog was "hacked" and some suspect code ended up causing a few problems. I've updated Wordpress and resolved the issue. Posting frequency will still be down until I'm back to work and whatnot, but fear not, I shall return.

Please be advised that two hotels in Jakarta were bombed this morning. They are the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotel. Bombs detonated at these hotels five minutes apart from each other. 6 to 12 persons are reported as being killed with several others seriously injured. It is not known if the UN has sustained casualties in these incidents.

Until the situation crystallizes more fully and we are advised by the DO in Indonesia of any related measures, all staff intending to travel to Jakarta are to check with UNDSS Jakarta and sponsoring agency, before doing so until advised otherwise.

"We are concerned about [pedophilia and prostitution] because it is such a serious, grave and important issue for other countries, and yet our country responds like it is not a big deal. This will suggest to people from other countries that Timor-Leste is a place that practises pedophilia and prostitution, which will impact the state’s ethics and morals," said MP Francisco Branco.

There was a story in The Times recently about a British couple who claimed they were scammed and falsely arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. There was a media outcry about the incident. The Times lead with:

A British couple who were falsely accused of shoplifting in Bangkok airport and were forced to pay £8,000 in bribes to secure their release are to take legal action for compensation.

More:

They were accused of taking a Givenchy wallet worth £121 from a King Power duty-free shop and were handed over to the police. An official release order from the local Thai prosecutor’s office subsequently conceded there was no evidence against them.

And yet King Power has posted up a video that shows what I'm fairly certain is the woman putting a purse in her bag and walking off with it. Watch the video and see for yourself. Assuming it is the same woman, and it does look like it, what the heck has happened?

Is anyone else confused?