Aid worker jailed for abusing orphans

An aid worker has been jailed for nine years for sexually abusing Ethiopian orphans, according to his lawyer.

David Christie, 61, who headed the Swiss orphanage Terre des Hommes in central Ethiopia, was convicted by the country’s High Court on Wednesday, his lawyer said.

“This sentence is on the high side,” defence lawyer Tameru Agegnehu told IRIN from his office in Addis Ababa. “The maximum sentence is 10 years so it was only one year below the maximum. That was a bit severe.”

Christie, who also goes by the name David Allen, was convicted of 14 sex offences dating back to 1995 when he was in charge of around 300 orphans.

Three judges at the First Criminal Bench of the High Court in Addis Ababa heard how the abuse took place both at the orphanage in south Wollo and at his home in Addis Ababa.

His lawyer said Christie might appeal. He added that a request for Christie to serve part of his sentence in the UK had been rejected.

A former mini-cab driver, Christie has already served two years of the nine-year sentence. He is likely to be released in 2007 with good behaviour.

He was arrested in August 2001 at Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport while en route from the Zambian capital Lusaka to London.

Ethiopian police had called in Interpol to arrest him after he slipped out of the country in 1998 shortly after the abuse came to light.

Terre des Hommes said it had helped the authorities in Africa to detain him and was closely monitoring his case.

The case, which originally started in October 2001, had been delayed because Christie had been suffering from ill health.

No relatives were in court to see Christie jailed, although British embassy officials have been present throughout. A spokeswoman from the embassy said they would continue to visit Christie in the city’s main jail.