Accused pedophile arrested

Anti-human trafficking authorities have arrested a 70-year-old Canadian national they said has engaged in sexual relations with four underage boys, the chief of Siem Reap’s anti-human trafficking department said yesterday.

Authorities raided the suspect’s rental room in Siem Reap town’s Slakram commune on Sunday, said Doung Thavery, chief of the provincial anti-human trafficking department.

“Pierre Deslauriers, 70, was arrested and charged by police yesterday after four boys told police they had been victims of sexual abuse and police received a letter of complaint from their families,” Thavery said, adding that local villagers informed the police that the accused had lured the boys to a forested area near his rental room.

Deslauriers allegedly engaged in sexual intercourse with one of the boys, according to Thavery.

Operating on a tip-off, authorities discovered the suspect in his room with multiple self-inflicted stab wounds, Thavery said.

Deslauriers is now at Siem Reap provincial hospital receiving treatment, Ty Soveinthal, a provincial prosecutor said yesterday.

“According to the law, we have to detain him since police submitted his case to the court today. We will have to wait to until Wednesday to make sure his health condition gets better,” Soveinthal said, adding that police had already confiscated his passport.