Glitter maintains innocence on child abuse charge

VETERAN rocker Gary Glitter yesterday went on trial on charges that he molested two under-age Vietnamese girls.

Entering the closed courtroom, Glitter made a two-finger victory sign and said only one word: “Innocent.”

The former glam rocker has been accused of committing obscene acts, including kissing, fondling and other physical acts, with a 10-year-old and 11-year-old at his rented house in the southern port city of Vung Tau last year. He has denied the allegations.

Glitter faces three to seven years in prison if convicted.

Glitter, 61, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, wore sunglasses, black trousers, shirt and cap as police escorted him through a group of reporters this morning into the yellow concrete courthouse in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.

Dozens of curious onlookers crowded outside the gates of the court as the armoured police van drove up. Glitter had been held at Phuoc Co prison outside Vung Tau since November.

His trial is closed to the public, but the verdict will be read publicly today.Glitter was escorted out of the court for a lunch break after three-and-a-half hours of testimony. Reporters waiting outside shouted two questions, “Are the girls lying?” and “Did you plead innocent,” to which he nodded in response to both.

Afterward, Glitter’s lawyer Le Thanh Kinh said prosecutors had presented their case and recommended that Glitter be sentenced to three to four years in prison before being deported from Vietnam.

Prosecutors say they have compiled evidence Glitter molested the two girls multiple times at his seaside villa, which he moved into last spring. However Mr Kinh said his client had maintained his innocence in the case: “He doesn’t agree with the accusations. He said he’s innocent. He said nothing happened.”

Glitter has said he was teaching the girls English and considered them “like his grandchildren.”