I was riding my motorbike to the Dili Weekly office in Colmera when I saw a familiar face with a trolley bag go into the travel agency on the corner. It was none other than the 80-year-old German man who appeared in court on Tuesday facing charges of the alleged sexual assault of an 11-year-old boy.

I raced around to the office, parked my bike and ran to the travel agency. I hung about outside for a minute and then opened the door and poked my head around. Sure enough, he was sat down and in the process of buying a ticket.

Ever graceful, I tried to leave quietly and ended up slamming the door on my foot and making a lot of noise. I caled UNPOL and found out it had already been called in, most likely by the police guy I saw outside the travel agency when I was loitering.

So what are the conditions of his release? Is he free to leave the country? Nobody seems sure. Suffice to say, he was planning to go somewhere.