BRITISH TEACHER FACES JAIL IN ETHIOPIA FOR EXPOSING PAEDOPHILES

Ethiopian Review

Jill Campbell, a 45 year old British teacher faces jail in Ethiopia after being convicted ofdefamation for her role in exposing paedophiles working in Swiss charity Terre Des Hommes-Lausanne(TdH), a children's charity.  Campbell and her husband Gary complied a dossier of evidencethat helped to convict a British sex offender who admitted having a sexual relationship with achild in his care.  A second suspect committed suicide.  The charity admitted that abusehad taken place at its care facilities in the village of Jari, but denied the Campbells'accusations that senior staff had covered up the scandal and had failed to inform the Ethiopianauthorities.  The charity successfully brought a defamation case against the couple. Campbell will find out on Friday whether she will go to prison after a failed appeal.  Herlawyers have told her that she will be found in contempt of court if she refuses to apologize andcould be jailed for six months. 
Campbell became aware of the allegations of sexual abuse through a colleague at the schoolwhose boyfriend worked at Jari.  In December 1996 staff members saw a boy escaping from DavidChristie's (also known as David Allan) bedroom window.  He was dismissed by the charity andleft Ethiopia.  He was subsequently arrested in 2001 as he traveled to Zambia.  TheCampbells had drawn up a dossier of evidence against him, which they circulated widely. Christie was eventually found guilty of abusing boys under 15 and of procuring children for hisfriends.  In 2003 he was sentenced at a court in Addis Ababa to nine years in prison with hardlabour.  One of his associates and a frequent visitor to Jari, Mark Lachance, committedsuicide after posting a confession on the internet in 1999.
(Ethiopia)