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.
What is really shocking is that he liked little girls, not little boys.
In light of the court convictions, some teams have stopped using that song.
Oh no!
/sarc
Don't remind me! I love "Rock 'n' Roll Part II."
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