A 53-year-old English teacher from Australia was charged yesterday by Phnom Penh Municipal Court with committing an indecent act against a minor under 15 and possessing child pornography.

“This case now has been transferred to the investigating judge for further investigation and decision,” deputy prosecutor Seang Sok said yesterday.

Colonel Eang Chanlon, chief of the Juvenile Protection Program of the Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department, said Australian George Moussallie was arrested in a police raid on his residence in Daun Penh district on Sundat that reportedly found him in his room with two young boys.

“Police rescued two young boys under 11 years old from his room,” Chanlon said, noting that the boys said Moussallie had sexually abused them.

Police also seized a laptop containing many images of child pornography, he added.

Moussallie and his lawyers declined to answer reporters’ questions at the court.