Back in the limelight … Gary Glitter is led into the court in Vung Tau. The former '70s rocker has pleaded not guilty.
Posted on 03/02/2006 7:49:37 AM PST by Calpernia
THERE was no big hair, platform shoes, silver lame suit or placard-waving fans, but Gary Glitter was still mobbed as he stepped back into the spotlight, to face charges of child sexual abuse, in southern Vietnam yesterday.
The 61-year-old former glam rocker flashed the victory sign and called out "I'm innocent" as he fought his way into a very different arena, the People's Provincial Court of Ba Ria.
Glitter's music never made it to armed services radio in Vietnam in the 1970s, which favoured the Doors. But he's known here now.
The arrest of Glitter on charges of committing obscenities against two girls, aged 13 and 12, in Vung Tau, south of Ho Chi Minh City on November 19, came two weeks after the Government announced a crackdown on child sexual abuse. This case provides a ideal opportunity to show it means business. If convicted, he faces up to seven years' jail.
Glitter's lawyer, Le Thanh Kinh, said the charges were based on statements by the two girls to police. Two female witnesses who will back the girls' testimony in court were friends of Glitter's and brought the girls to his house in Vung Tau, Mr Kinh said.
Mr Kinh has paid $US2000 ($2680) to each girl's family as compensation but said his client still intended to plead not guilty.
Vietnam's court process is usually closed to media and the public but intense interest from the British press has forced the Government to offer unprecedented media access by Vietnamese standards. The press cannot enter the courtroom but is allowed to stand in the grounds.
When Glitter's prison van arrived at the court at 7.55am yesterday, Vietnam's unprepared police could not control their prisoner or the British press pack.
Glitter, who was charged under his birth name of Paul Gadd, surprised everyone by slipping out the side door of the van and bedlam ensued. "Mr Glitter is to blame. Why did he go out through the other door, instead of going through the back? He is so strong and the Vietnamese police are small," said Nguyen Manh Tuan, of Vietnam's Foreign Press Centre.
During the lunch adjournment Glitter nodded three times when asked if the girls had lied, if he had pleaded innocent and whether he had a good day in court.
The judge will deliver his verdict tomorrow.
Not guilty. Yeah...right...
He's an old lecher. I expect he went there specifically to have sex with these kids. Let him spend a few years in a VN jail.
"He is so strong and the Vietnamese police are small," said Nguyen Manh Tuan, of Vietnam's Foreign Press Centre.
Much the same could be said of his romantic tryst with the two young girls.
Seven years in a Vietnamese prison. Some fellas have all the luck. Be still my beating heart.
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
Put him in the "Hanoi Hilton."
Rots of ruck Glitter boy....Vietnamese prisons got no 'programs'...
If you are lucky they will ship you out to My Tho and you can work at the snake farm/hosptial that used to be Dong Tam hospital...the place John Kerry conned his way into a couple of purple hearts.
Say hello to Mr. Krait....he's the cure for pedophilia.
He's more than an "old lecher", he's a convicted pedophile. He spent some time in prison in the UK for a 1997 arrest, and subsequent conviction, on posession of child pornography on his home computer. When released from prison in the UK he quickly moved to Cuba and then on to Cambodia. Rumor was he had to leave Cambodia after some accusation and he ended up in Vietnam, where he was arrested again in late 2005 on the current charges.
I'm hoping he gets a long, long stay in a Vietnamese prison with some very bad men.
bump!
He hit the entire Sex Tour route huh?
See what happens when child sex offenders receive light sentences.
There should be only one sentence for convicted sex offenders. Life in prison with no possibility of parole or release. No special protective custody either.
When they sang "The Punk and The Godfather" Gary Glitter sang the Godfather part and Billy Idol sang the Punk part.
I wonder if Gary and Pete exchanged email addresses after the show...
Glitter probably was the inspiration for Uncle Ernie.
Fiddle about! Fiddle about!
I saw The Who at the Madison a few years ago too.
>>>I wonder if Gary and Pete exchanged email addresses after the show...
Dead, Pete was doing research, remember?
::ahem::
I may be mistaken, but I thought that he could possibly get the DEATH sentence or this crime.
I'm not saying thats bad, its just that I thought I heard that could possibly be his fate ... he'll go out dancing ... dancing at the end of a rope.
Besides, "Song Two" by Blur is a better choice anyway.
>>>On November 21, 2005, the Daily Telegraph reported Glitter's young girl friends had actually been twelve and eighteen years old (not fifteen) — but that the 61-year-old singer's alleged involvement with the twelve-year-old could mean death by firing squad if convicted of child rape, and that he could also be jailed for up to twelve years if found guilty of performing lewd acts on the underaged girl. A November 21, 2005, story on E! Online reported the ages of the two alleged victims as twelve and fifteen.<
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