WINDHOEK- The Windhoek Regional Court has ordered the extradition of Mathieu Nicolas Furic, the 46 year-old French man who was arrested in Namibia for sexual crimes allegedly committed against children in India.
Magistrate Cosmos Endjala announced his verdict in the matter yesterday.
Furic is a fugitive and should be extradited to India to face trials as he may not be liable to a death penalty or any other type of punishment that is not applied if he is returned, Magistrate Endjala said while delivering the judgment.
New Era learnt that the defence team planned to appeal the verdict. Furic was ordered to remain in custody until his extradition to the Asian nation.
“Had this offence been committed in Namibia, there would have sufficient grounds for holding trial as there is a prima facie (sufficient) proof in respect of contravening the provision of the Combating of Rape Act respectively which is almost equivalent to the provision of Section 8 of the Protection of Sexual Offences Act of India, ” the magistrate said.
The magistrate further pointed out that all the extradition documents facially are in order and the evidence adduced is sufficient to justify the French man’s committal for trial.
“The defendant (Furic) is the person named in all the extradition documentation before court. The said person has committed extraditable offences and has been charged with those crimes in the demanding state of India,” the magistrate added.
Furic was denied bail when he appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in July this year.
The Namibian Police in Walvis Bay nabbed him in June for allegedly molesting children in India during November last year.
He allegedly skipped India after his crimes were uncovered and was on the Interpol wanted list until his arrest in Namibia.
He was arrested in Walvis Bay when he tried to enter Namibia as a fisherman to work on one of the fishing vessels at the coast.
An online Indian newspaper, New India Express, reported that a case was registered against Furic on 3 December 2013 for allegedly sexually abusing a group of children in Odisha’s beach town of Puri between 23 and 26 November 2013.
The newspaper further reported the alleged crimes came to light after an American tourist, identified as James Foster Gorman, a key witness in the case, lodged a complaint with the local police in December after he saw Furic perform oral sex with a group of children. Allegations are also that Furic assaulted Gorman when he protested against his sexual acts. Gorman allegedly talked to some of the children believed to have been molested by Furic and recorded their conversation on video.
He then handed the video footage to the Indian authorities to investigate Furic. On the basis of the footage and a written complaint, police raided the hotel where Furic was staying shortly afterwards, but found that he had left for France.
Furic has been booked for committing offences under the Indian penal code, including wrongful restraint, causing hurt, criminal intimidation and offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
During the trial at the Regional Court last month State prosecutor Simba Nduna referred to a statement by an American citizen James Frederick Groman who reported the matter to the Indian Police at Puri on 02 December, 2013 that he had seen a foreigner engaging in sexual activities with children the previous week.
The state also referred to witness statements from two boys aged 12 and 13 respectively who claim that a foreigner had given them money in return for engaging in a sexual act with him.
Furic’s defence lawyer Petrus Elago argued that the children’s statements included in the extradition request are inadmissible evidence and cannot be accepted before court, since the witnesses’ original statements were made in another language then translated into English and it was not stated that the statements in English were sworn translations of the original statements.