30 October 2003
Brisbane lawyer Andrew Boe [see photograph right] was born in Burma and has a continuing involvement in the democratic movement in that country. He is married and has five children.

According to reports, Andrew Boe is now representing Clint Betterridge who the Australian Government are seeking to extradite to Cambodia. It has been reported through media sources that Betterridge, 35, returned home to Australia, just days before a Cambodian court sentenced him in absentia to 10 years jail and fines of $8000 for raping six Cambodian girls aged between 12 & 14.

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer made this comment to the National Press Club: "My ambition is to get him back to Cambodia and get him to serve his sentence there," he said.

Andrew Boe has taken over the Betterridge case from prominent Gold Coast lawyer, Chris Nyst [see Pauline Hanson case]. He has been granted time to prepare for the next hearing which is set down for March 31, 2004.

Andrew Boe has a private legal practice in Brisbane [Australia] specializing in criminal law.

He has appeared or acted in some of the most significant cases in Queensland and NSW including, the case against Australian Serial Killer Ivan Milat, and One Nation National Director David Ettridge.

Prostitution is illegal in Cambodia, but officials have long turned a blind eye. Over the past 20 years, thousands of women and young girls have been coerced or enslaved into the sex trade.

Last year Prime Minister Hun Sen launched a sweeping pedophilia crackdown, and many young girls have since been rescued. Despite this, some brothels and karaoke bars have eluded prosecution by changing their names to massage parlors, or bribing police and other authorities.

By S.Walsh