Convicted child abuser found working at Thai school
An Australian child sex offender, who was jailed three years ago for abusing children in Indonesia, has been found working at an international school in Thailand.
He was detained this week by Thai authorities on suspicion of possessing child pornography.
Peter Dundas Walbran was convicted in 2012 of raping three Indonesian boys, aged between eight and 12, over a period of seven years. He was sentenced to three year's jail.
After serving two-thirds of his time, Walbran was deported to his home country, Australia.
But Walbran, who has dual nationality, avoided registering as a child sex offender and used his New Zealand passport to travel to Thailand.
He found work there as a teacher at an international school in Ubon Ratchathani, a town about 630km north-east of Bangkok.
His work contract was terminated after he was detained by authorities on Wednesday (Dec 9). The Sydney Morning Herald reported that an officer from the Australian Federal Police was with Thai police when they escorted him out of his home.
Thai police released an 18-year-old Thai man who had been living with Walbran after several hours of questioning.
Walbran had been working at the Thai school for eight months.
Walbran had also been working as a teacher at an international school when he was accused of raping children in Indonesia.
Australian media reported that the Thai authorities waited for a new legislation that criminalises the possession of child pornography to come into force this week before raiding Walbran's apartment.
The police had been watching him for several days before moving in to detain him.
A police investigator told the Sydney Morning Herald that they had seen Walbran with children from his local neighbourhood several times since Monday.
"We saw Walbran take a boy from the apartment to a shop on (the) back of his motorbike," the investigator said.
Bangkok Post reported that his visa has been cancelled and that he will be deported to Australia.
ABC News reported that Indonesia appears to be the top destination in South-east Asia for paedophiles from Australia.
The Australian Federal Police, working with Indonesian authorities, have prevented 120 convicted paedophiles from Australia from entering Indonesia so far this year.
Sources: ABC, Sydney Morning Herald, Bangkok Post, Mail Online
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