Record investigative effort into pedophile case in Gambia

A delegation of 8-10 persons will travel to Gambia to investigate claims
that a Norwegian teacher has sexually abused a 12-year-old boy. This is
the first time Norwegian police have mounted such a large operation for
this type of case.

INGER ANNE OLSEN

Major resources

A judge, a defense lawyer, legal counsel for the victim, a prosecutor,
several investigators and one or two interpreters - this is the delegation
Oslo police district has decided to send to Gambia this summer to
investigate claims that a Norwegian teacher has abused one or more boys
during holidays there. The reason several investigators will attend is
that police do not know how many children may be involved.

"It is rare that we get evidence strong enough to start such an
investigation. This is also special because it embraces investigations
both here and in Gambia," says police lawyer Pål-Fredrik Hjorth Kraby.
Kraby will lead the delegation to West Africa as soon as he has received a
reply to his letter of request that will shortly be sent to Gambia. Oslo
police will handle the final interviews and depositions and so will be
carrying out legal interrogations in the country.

"We are in dialogue with the Gambian police but the investigation will
nevertheless pose challenges," Kraby says.

The project is approved by the Oslo district attorney's office.

When Norwegian tourists reported their suspicions about the Norwegian
before Christmas, it was the division for sexual violence at Kripos, the
National Bureau of Crime Investigation, which first handled the case.
Division leader Harald Skjønsfjell is not aware of a precedent for such a
case receiving the kind of resources the Oslo police district is now using.

"This is very good. If one wants to secure evidence so that the man can
eventually be convicted in Norway, one has to do it like this,"
Skjønsfjell says.

Denies abuse

Aftenposten has previously written about the middle-aged Norwegian who
over the course of the last year has been on several holidays in the West
African nation. On at least two of these visits he has checked into a
hotel with a 12-year-old Gambian boy. During questioning by Gambian police
the boy has admitted being abused by the Norwegian. The boy's father had
approved the boy living at the hotel with the Norwegian because the man
provided the family with financial support.

The Norwegian paid the boy's school fees and sent NOK 500 in pocket money
each month - the equivalent of a generous month's wages in Gambia.

The Norwegian traveled from Gambia before the local police managed to
question him. The man is charged but not in custody.

Aftenposten did not succeed in contacting the man's lawyer, Fridtjof
Feydt, yesterday.

Police lack experience

Save the Children has long worked to prevent Norwegians on holiday from
abusing children.

"We know that many Norwegians (sexually) abuse children when on holiday.
It is a serious crime and it is very positive that Norwegian police are
working so hard to find out what has happened in this affair," Marianne
Borgen says. She leads Save the Children's rights center.

No matter what the result of the case, she believes the major effort is an
important signal to those Norwegians that have holidays like these at
regular intervals.

"Police lack sufficient experience to investigate such cases abroad. I
assume that they will secure that expertise on this trip," Borgen says.

Covert photographs

Norwegian tourists holidaying in Gambia were the ones who brought the
Norwegian's unusual behavior to Kripos' attention. Aftenposten is in
possession of pictures of several young boys, photographed on their way to
the Norwegian's hotel room. Other pictures show the man as he leads two
boys aged four or five out of the hotel area. The photographs were taken
by a Gambian on behalf of a Norwegian hotel guest who was disturbed by
these visits.

According to police chief Abdou Njie at the main police station in capital
Banjul, it is extremely unusual for children to pay tourists solitary
visits at a hotel.

"Only extremely poor and very desperate parents let their children go near
the tourist areas without the company of an adult family member. Because
everyone knows that these children are the ones most vulnerable to sexual
assault," Njie said when Aftenposten was in Gambia before Christmas to
write about child sex tourism. Gambia, Senegal and Ghana are among the new
destinations for pedophile tourists after it has become too dangerous in
Thailand and the Philippines.

 (This report was first printed in the norwegian newspaper AFTENPOSTEN,
Tuesday May 25th 2004)

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