On 20th November, 2014, CeLRRd filed an FIR against Ernest Fenwick Macintosh, (a retired Canadian Engineer) on behalf of the victim called Jwalakhel Ga (name changed).
Macintosh used to visit Social Service Center for his research purpose, where the victim was introduced to Macintosh by a warden. He took the child’s number and started to send messages asking him for a meeting. Eventually for the first time they met in Pulchwok where he resided. There at his residence, he forced him to have an unnatural sex with him to which he could not resist because of his disability. Afterwards, he even bought a jacket on his way to the Social Service Center. That night he again sent him a message asking whether the jacket was warm and that he liked. This very message later became one of the evidences that was presented before the court. His further attempt to lure him continued. As he happened to come in contact with the investigation team, a charge sheet was lodged for committing the crime of unnatural sex against the minor under section 9(a) of rape chapter of Muluki Ain 2020.
After hearing arguments from the state party including VLA team and defendant, the court held the perpetrator guilty of crime of pedophilia and unnatural sex. While deciding on the case, District Judge Honourable Tek Narayan Kunwar acknowledged the victim’s statement as primary evidence to hold the perpetrator guilty of the crime. Similarly, other evidences like witness statements, polygraph tests were also considered. In the decision, the court also acknowledged the background of perpetrator that he was convicted by the trial court of Canada for committing the crime of child sexual offence some years before, but later was acquitted by the court of appeal on the technical ground.
In this case, the court convicted the perpetrator with six years of imprisonment and further one year imprisonment for abusing a minor. As the perpetrator has 10 hectares of land in Canada, the court charged NPR 1,000,000 compensation to the victim. The court ordered the Nepalese Embassy in Canada to coordinate in execution of the decision and a copy of this decision was sent to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Furthermore, Judge Kunwar elicited the following important guidelines for the protection of children from being sexually exploited.
There is a need to make effective and clear laws against unnatural sexual offence and amend the existing relevant laws. Therefore, a copy of this decision and notice is sent to the Ministry of Law and Justice to draw the attention.
As there is a high risk of sexual offences in the social organizations, the decision said that children should not be brought in contact with strangers and other people, and if it is done it should be monitored. Therefore a copy of this decision is sent to the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare.
