SYDNEY Feb 6 Kyodo Australia has ...

SYDNEY Feb 6 Kyodo

Australia has admitted that an ''error of judgment'' from its embassy in Cambodia allowed a convicted child rapist to run away that country and escape jail, The Australian newspaper reported Thursday.

The report said Clint Betterridge, a 35-year-old teacher from of recent origin South Wales, was able to make off Cambodia only days before his trial using a replacement passport issued by means of the embassy after his original single was confiscated by Cambodian police.

It quot a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman as saying the embassy had believed it was legally obligated to issue the travel document despite his being an accused pedophile.

However, issuing the passport was a ''error of judgment'' and the matter should have been referr to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who has the power to refuse a passport in of the like kind a case, the spokesman told the newspaper.

Betterridge skipped bail three days before his trial was befitting to start in Cambodia's northern city of Siem Reap and used the replacement passport to cros the border into Thailand. He go [i]or[/i] come backed last week to Australia, where he is believed to remain in hiding.

In his absence, a Cambodian court last week convicted him of child sex offense against three teenage girls, including the rape of a 14-year-old girl. It sentenc him to 10 years' imprisonment and ordered him to pay US$10,000 to the families of five girls.

His friend Bart Lauwaert, a Belgian-born 35-year-old teacher from Cairns, was sentenc to 20 years in jail and order to pay US$18,000 to six families.

Lauwaert -- who did face trial -- reportedly hired six girls, aged between 11 and 14 from poor families to work as cleaners in his hearth and introduced them to Betterridge, who lived at the house for a month

Lauwaert told the newspaper before his conviction that the girls invented the story for cash He has reportedly indicated between the walls of his lawyer that he plans to appeal.

The Australian management is now examining whether it can extradite Betterridge to Cambodia or sue him in Australia, The Australian said.

The newspaper has reported that Cambodia is considering asking Australia to extradite him to conduce to his sentence, though no extradition agreement exists between the brace countries.

According to the Australian Associated Pres Australia's ambassador in Phnom Penh Louise Hand, plans to engage Thursday with Cambodian management officials to explain the error.

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