An Indonesian court has sentenced an Australian man to 15 years in jail after he was found guilty of sexually molesting several minor girls on the resort island of Bali.
It was reported that the accused, identified as Robert Andrew Fiddes Ellis (70), molested at least 11 girls aged between seven and 17 over a period of two years. He was arrested by the Indonesia police early this year.
"He has been proven to have molested children in Bali, which has a big impact for their future psychological development," said presiding judge I Wayan Sukanila, according to Channel New Asia.
The court has also fined Ellis 2 billion rupiah (US$154,000) along with the jail sentence. However, Ellis' lawyer said that he would appeal against the sentence.
"We will appeal because we believe the judge was not objective in making the decision," the lawyer said, as reported by the news portal.
According to the reports, several paedophilia cases in Bali, involving Australian citizens, have surfaced recently and the police of the two countries have been prompted to cooperate in preventing Australian child sex offenders from travelling to Indonesia.
However, official data on sexual abuse are rare in Indonesia. A recent survey by victim support group Lentera Sintas in Indonesia found that more than 90 percent of rapes in the Southeast nation go unreported.
