Saturday, March 04, 2006
No More Glitter
(Note: would be interesting to know who his cellmate is; I think this is the case that developed last year.)
Agence France Presse -- English March 4, 2006
Vietnam town relieved Glitter behind bars
DATELINE: VUNG TAU, Vietnam, March 4 2006 BODY: Many in this southern Vietnamese resort town breathed a sigh of relief after former British glam rocker Gary Glitter was jailed for three years for child sex abuse.
The faded 61-year-old star was sentenced Friday for repeatedly molesting two local girls aged 11 and 12 last year behind the high walls that surround the three-bedroom bungalow he rented on the South China Sea.
On Saturday, the former king of the glam era was back behind the mouldy walls and razor wire of the local prison where, since his November arrest, he has shared a spartan cell with a corrupt Vietnamese oil industry official.
"Many people are very angry," said Pham Minh Chiem, 52, who runs a souvenir stall on a beach in Vung Tau, a popular weekend getaway for people who live in Ho Chi Minh City, 130 kilometres (80 miles) away. "He deserves to go to prison," he said. "It's a question of dignity.
He violated Vietnam's people. He violated Vietnamese law and Vietnamese morality." Glitter, born Paul Francis Gadd, was convicted of committing obscene acts against children in the house that Vietnamese prosecutors say he also frequently shared with three prostitutes.
Even in a tourism and oil town notorious for its more then 400 red-light bars, karaoke joints and massage parlours, Glitter's presence had disturbed the locals since he arrived early last year. "I saw him here on the beach many times with little girls and older girls, drinking beer all day," said Nguyen Ngoc Mai, 50, who plies the beach selling tropical durian fruit she carries in her bicycle basket.
"Sometimes he spent 40 or 50 dollars on beer a day. He liked to drink beer with lemon. He drank so much, so much... Some of the girls were so young. Later I saw him on television when he was arrested."
In Glitter's neighbourhood, too, residents said they had long wondered what went on inside the stilted wooden house on Tran Phu street, where silk lanterns light an airy terrace below a traditional Vietnamese-style roof.
"Sometimes I saw him with a girl on the back of his moped, sometimes I saw him with three girls," said Le Thi Hoa, a mother of one who works close to the 1,600-dollar-a-month rental house. "I think his face was not so good, he looked like a bad man," she said, gesturing at her head in the international sign for madness. "
....The judge who presided over the closed trial, Hoang Thanh Tung, called Glitter sick and abnormal, detailing instances of fondling, oral sex and more disturbing sexual acts with the children. "We have never seen a case like this before," a senior local police official told AFP, asking not to be named. "I hope we will never meet someone like him again. I hope we will never see a second Glitter."
Agence France Presse -- English March 4, 2006
Vietnam town relieved Glitter behind bars
DATELINE: VUNG TAU, Vietnam, March 4 2006 BODY: Many in this southern Vietnamese resort town breathed a sigh of relief after former British glam rocker Gary Glitter was jailed for three years for child sex abuse.
The faded 61-year-old star was sentenced Friday for repeatedly molesting two local girls aged 11 and 12 last year behind the high walls that surround the three-bedroom bungalow he rented on the South China Sea.
On Saturday, the former king of the glam era was back behind the mouldy walls and razor wire of the local prison where, since his November arrest, he has shared a spartan cell with a corrupt Vietnamese oil industry official.
"Many people are very angry," said Pham Minh Chiem, 52, who runs a souvenir stall on a beach in Vung Tau, a popular weekend getaway for people who live in Ho Chi Minh City, 130 kilometres (80 miles) away. "He deserves to go to prison," he said. "It's a question of dignity.
He violated Vietnam's people. He violated Vietnamese law and Vietnamese morality." Glitter, born Paul Francis Gadd, was convicted of committing obscene acts against children in the house that Vietnamese prosecutors say he also frequently shared with three prostitutes.
Even in a tourism and oil town notorious for its more then 400 red-light bars, karaoke joints and massage parlours, Glitter's presence had disturbed the locals since he arrived early last year. "I saw him here on the beach many times with little girls and older girls, drinking beer all day," said Nguyen Ngoc Mai, 50, who plies the beach selling tropical durian fruit she carries in her bicycle basket.
"Sometimes he spent 40 or 50 dollars on beer a day. He liked to drink beer with lemon. He drank so much, so much... Some of the girls were so young. Later I saw him on television when he was arrested."
In Glitter's neighbourhood, too, residents said they had long wondered what went on inside the stilted wooden house on Tran Phu street, where silk lanterns light an airy terrace below a traditional Vietnamese-style roof.
"Sometimes I saw him with a girl on the back of his moped, sometimes I saw him with three girls," said Le Thi Hoa, a mother of one who works close to the 1,600-dollar-a-month rental house. "I think his face was not so good, he looked like a bad man," she said, gesturing at her head in the international sign for madness. "
....The judge who presided over the closed trial, Hoang Thanh Tung, called Glitter sick and abnormal, detailing instances of fondling, oral sex and more disturbing sexual acts with the children. "We have never seen a case like this before," a senior local police official told AFP, asking not to be named. "I hope we will never meet someone like him again. I hope we will never see a second Glitter."
