KATHMANDU, July 9: The District Court, Kavrepalanchowk on Monday slapped nine years imprisonment on a former senior United Nations official Peter Dalglish for sexually assaulting children in Nepal.
The court ruled that the former UN official had sexually assaulted two children during his stay in the district. The children, according to court officials, were raped while he was working in the district as aid worker after the 2015 earthquakes.
Without naming the victims, court officials said one victim was 14 years old and another was 12. “Apart from nine years' imprisonment he will have to pay Rs 500,000 to each children as compensation,” according to court registrar Thakur Trital.
Earlier on June 11, the court had convicted Dalglish of sexually assaulting children in Nepal. The hearing for fixing the jail term was scheduled for Monday.
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A bench of judge Arjun Prasad Adhikari slapped a nine year jail term on Daglish and ordered him to pay Rs 500,000 compensation to each of the victim.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CBI) of Nepal Police had arrested Dalglish from Kavrepalanchowk district in April last year.
The 61-year-old Canadian, who served as UN-Habitat country representative for Afghanistan from 2010 to 2014, was arrested from the house of Chinkaji Maharjan at Mandan Deupur Municipality in Kavrepalanchowk district.
The CIB closely monitored his activities before arresting him with two boys aged 12 and 14 from his room at Maharjan's house.
Following the arrest, the special investigation wing of the Nepal Police initiated further investigations. He was then sent into judicial custody.
Court official Trital said Dalglish is still in police custody.
In Nepal, Dalglish has been running various projects related to education and drinking water for the deprived communities in Kavrepalanchowk in the wake of the 2015 earthquakes. He is the founder of the Himalayan Community Foundation, an NGO helping poor and deprived families with the education of their children.
Apart from working at UN-Habitat as country representative, Dalglish also held other top positions in the UN system. After four years at UN-Habitat, he joined the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response in Liberia in 2015. In 2016, he joined the World Health Organization (WHO) as a senior urban advisor for coordinating global efforts to stop the spread of Ebola.
He is also one of the founders of Street Kids International, a Canada-based NGO established in 1988.
