Nepal court announces 16 yrs jail term, 1 million penalty for ex-UN worker

A court here on Monday announced 16 years of prison sentence and penalty worth one million (in Nepali Rupees) for a former United Nations official from Canada found guilty of child abuse.

The Kavre District court in its final hearing awarded Peter John Dalglish, 62, with an order to pay compensation of one million to the victims and jail term of 16 years combined.

The single bench, headed by Judge Arjun Adhikari, made the final announcement over the case placing an order to pay five lakhs rupees each victim under cases 295 and 296 (Code to hide the identity of the victims).

The court also awarded Dalgish with jail terms of nine years for case 295 and seven years for case 296.

The Nepal Police have rescued two boys, aged 12 and 14, from his villa in Kavre District in April last year.

The investigation found him guilty of sexually abusing children and charged with being a paedophile. Dalgish, however, has denied the allegations. Dalgish also helped found the charity named 'Street Kids International' to help the impoverished children.

Dalgish was a former UN humtarian agency worker for the UN-Habitat in Afghstan, UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response in Liberia and also in Darfur of Sudan.

Officials drew the conclusion that Dalgish used to lure children from a weak economic background with promises of education, jobs and trips, and later sexually abusing them.

( With inputs from ANI )