Child sex case

The Appeal Court on Wednesday postponed a hearing in the case of a Swedish paedophile who in January received a six-and-a-half year sentence for having sex with his 9-year-old adopted son and two other boys. Judge Nhoung Thul said Johan Brahim Escori, who was 62 at the time of his conviction, had failed to appear at the court, and that the hearing would be rescheduled for August. He noted that all parties, including Escori, had been issued summonses for the hearing, but that only representatives of the Swedish embassy in Phnom Penh had appeared. Escori was arrested on May 7, 2009 at a hotel in Phnom Penh where he had been staying with his adopted son. The Municipal Court in January ordered him to may 4 million riels (US$955) in compensation, and ruled that he would be deported after serving his sentence. Neither his lawyer nor the prosecutor handling the case could be reached for comment on Wednesday.