An Australian war veteran has been arrested in Cambodia for allegedly locking up his girlfriend and four of her family members and demanding sex.
James Bernard King, 69, was arrested on December 28 in the coastal town of Sihanoukville after a two-hour police siege, and charged with illegal confinement.
Police were called to the rented house on a report of people held against their will and arrived to find King barricaded inside with the family.
Locked inside the house were King’s girlfriend You Kea, 38, her sister You Chang Reth, 27, niece Touch Ratana, 22, and Chang Reth’s son and daughter, aged six and two, police said.
‘At night, King locked the doors and did not allow those people to get out,’ police spokesman Kirth Chantharith told local media.
‘He put the condition that his girlfriend [must] cook a meal for him, and the other two [Kea’s sister and niece] must go to the room and have sex with him, otherwise he will not allow them to leave his house.’
The family said they pleaded with King to release them for hours before they managed to contact another relative who notified authorities.
King allegedly locked the doors when police arrived and officers spent two hours negotiating with him but he refused to let them in.
Police eventually got a warrant and forced open the doors about 12.15am on December 28, freeing the family after 10 hours of confinement.
‘My young niece and nephew were very scared – they hugged their mother and me, but no one was sexually abused,’ Ms Kea said.
‘He did not allow us to leave the house unless my sister and my niece agree to perform sexual acts with him.’
Provincial police officer Kong Vichetr said King admitted to locking the family in the house but denied demanding sex, claiming it was because they owed him money.
King was charged with illegal confinement, which is punishable by a one to three-year prison term, and not with any sex crimes.
King, who was in the country on a tourist visa, was in custody ahead of the case going to court.
The Vietnam War veteran was originally from the small town of Brim in country Victoria and went to school in Geelong.
He is on the Sihanoukville Anzac Day committee and helped organise last year’s service, pictured holding a wreath in a photo from the event.
Source: The Daily Mail
