STOCKHOLM: A Swedish court jailed a Swede for eight years on Thursday for paying poor women in the Philippines to rape young kids as he watched on a videolink from his computer in Sweden, local media reported.
The Haessleholm district court in southern Sweden found the 52-year-old man, whose name was not disclosed, guilty of 11 charges of inciting aggravated rape and one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated rape, both unusual indictments, news agency TT said.
The man was acquitted of six other rape counts due to lack of evidence, and prosecutor Maans Bjoerklund said he plans to appeal those cases.
The man contacted the women in 2009 on Internet chat sites. The women were either relatives or acquaintances of the children, who were between the ages of five and eight.
The women used the money they were paid to buy rice, school books and other necessities for the children.
Authorities discovered the abuse when police seized the man's computer in another matter, and found screenshots of the rapes.
The man denied the charges and said someone must have manipulated his computer.
The women who carried out the rapes testified during the trial from the Philippines via a videolink, but it was unclear whether they would face charges in the Philippines.
"I have no insight into that," Bjoerklund told TT.
Five of the children were awarded damages, ranging from 65,000 to 230,000 kronor (7,600 to 27,000 euros, $10,000 to 35,300 dollars).
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