Raid
on holiday home: Investigators recover smut
[January 23, 2003 - 10.45 GMT]
The
National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) has found several pictures of
child pornography while screening the contents of the computer recovered
from a house in a suburb of Colombo.
“Its
not a matter of how many pictures were found. Even having just one child
pornographic picture is considered child abuse,” NCPA Chairman Prof.
Harendra de Silva told the PRIU.
The
NCPA raided the house following a tip-off that an international TV presenter
arrested in the UK last week over allegations of child abuse, had a holiday
home in Sri Lanka. “It is yet to be ascertained whether he had been
involved in child abuse in Sri Lanka,” he added.
On
the mandate of the NCPA Act No. 50 of 1998, the Police Unit of the NCPA had
raided the house on January 18 taking into custody 54 VHS cassettes, a
computer and accessories.
Prof.
de Silva said that the videotapes were still beeing examined for evidence.
However an initial search of the contents of the computer had revealed that
a number of adult sites had been accessed.
“Here
again we do not know who accessed them,” he said, “ But not having
enough evidence does not necessarily mean there have been no acts of child
abuse, so we will continue investigations.”
The
NCPA is the focal government institution working towards the prevention of
child abuse. It has tightened the laws denying offenders bail and setting a
minimum jail sentence of 10 years without parole.
In a
separate incident, the Authority also arrested
on January 14, eleven schoolboys and seven other youth while filming a child
porn movie in Negombo.
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Last Updated
Date: January 23, 2003 - 10.45
GMT. |
