A convicted pedophile given a suspended prison sentence and ordered to leave Cambodia last August was re-arrested last week in Siem Reap and will be deported to his home country of Australia, a senior anti-human trafficking official at the Ministry of Interior said yesterday.

Major-General Pol Pithey, chief of the anti-human trafficking police, said Charles Sohn, 39, a Korean-Australian, was re-arrested last Sunday after being sighted in Siem Reap.

“This man had previously been arrested, convicted and given a three-year suspended sentence,” he said. “The court ordered that he be deported . . . but he escaped to stay illegally in Siem Reap province. He has no valid passport now. He will be deported from Cambodia this week.”

Sohn was arrested in his rental house in Poipet in February, and found guilty of sexually assaulting two girls, aged six and 10. Police believe that after he was ordered to leave Cambodia, Sohn went to Thailand but was able to re-enter the Kingdom later at the border near Poipet.

Seila Samleang, country director of NGO Action pour les Enfants, said Sohn was arrested last week at a bus station in Siem Reap with a small amount of marijuana, a detail police confirmed.

“This [arrest] is a great solution for Cambodian children,” Samleang said. “We hope that the Australian government will do their part and take responsibility in preventing child sex exploitation in developing countries by deporting Mr Sohn to his home country, where the relevant authorities can prevent him from abusing children.”

In a separate case, a German man police identified only as D Victor, 61, was charged at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Saturday with paying for sex with a minor.

Pithey said the German tourist was arrested Thursday. “He has lured a Cambodian girl, aged 15, to have sex with him at a guesthouse and promised to buy a house for her and her family and to help them open a coffee shop,” he said, adding that the two had had sexual intercourse multiple times.

Victor was arrested after the victim complained about the incident, Pithey said.