Witnesses accuse Briton of child rape
What you need to know:
- Deputy director of the UK border policing command at the national crime agency, Mr Hank Cole, said British citizens wishing to visit Kenya will now be vetted before they travel.
- He was speaking in Nairobi where he briefed the media on the start of the child protection network, which will incorporate Kenyan and British authorities.
Kenyan witnesses have started giving evidence via a satellite link in the case against a Briton accused of sexual offences in Kenya.
The trial of Mr Simon Harris, 55, began at the Birmingham Crown Court in the UK.
He was arrested following media reports that he may have been involved in sexual offences when he was in Kenya running the Harris Centre in Gilgil.
Deputy director of the UK border policing command at the national crime agency, Mr Hank Cole, said British citizens wishing to visit Kenya will now be vetted before they travel.
“As from January, we will issue a child protection certificate for any national wishing to work in Kenya to ensure that they have no past records of child abuse and sexual offences,” said Mr Cole.
PROTECT CHILDREN
He was speaking in Nairobi where he briefed the media on the start of the child protection network, which will incorporate Kenyan and British authorities.
He spoke just hours after the accused pleaded guilty to assaulting three boys aged between 13 and 14 at a private school in the 1980s.
The Court heard that the former teacher and charity boss “preyed” on Kenyan boys as young as six and sexually abused them. He denies 22 offences, including rape and sexual assault of boys under 13, indecent assault and possessing indecent images of children.
About 10 complainants from Kenya will give evidence over a live video link in a trial scheduled to last until December.
