Purpose key in porn trial

November 18, 2004

No evidence linking the former Australian diplomat Robert Scoble to distribution of pornography was presented on the first day of his trial in Bangkok yesterday.

Despite broad claims when Scoble was arrested in March about the amount and graphic nature of pornography seized in a raid on his apartment, the prosecution could produce no evidence that the material was for anything but private use.

Scoble and his business partner, Charles John Goss, are charged with trading in and distributing pornography and employing an illegal immigrant in their business, Spice Trade Travel. The trial, in the Southern Bangkok subdistrict court, is being heard before Judge Suttikorn Lipnoi. Juries are not used in the Thai justice system.

Thawesak Tirabunchasak, a policeman who searched Scoble's flat, told the court he had found "obscene pictures of a man having sex with a boy, obscene videos at his [Scoble's] house". Possession of pornography for private use is legal in Thailand. The law does not discriminate between adult and child pornography.

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