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A British teacher who faced prison for her role in exposing paedophile activity at an Ethiopian children's home walked free from court today.
Jill Campbell, 45, and her husband, Gary, accused Terre des Hommes-Lausanne (TdH) of covering up the scandal at its Jari children's village in the 1990s.
The charity successfully brought a defamation case against the couple, who are well-known in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, for their charity work.
But this morning, in a five-minute hearing, TdH asked the court not to jail Mrs Campbell for refusing to withdraw her allegations.
Her husband had already agreed to apologise in order to stay at home and care for their two adopted children.
Mrs Campbell said that she regretted nothing and the decision vindicated her work exposing sex abuse.
“I was all set to for prison,” she told The Times as she left court with supporters who included boys abused at Jari.
“This is the first time the charity has done the right thing.
“The time and money spent pursuing this case for seven years could have been better spent working out counselling for the boys, or on compensation or pursuing paedophiles.”
She added that the only reason the case had been dropped was because the charity had been surprised by the media attention it had attracted.
One of the survivors of abuse said that he was delighted by the outcome. “The Campbells have helped me with my education, with jobs and have been like a family to me,” he said.
“If it wasn't for them then no-one would know what had happened at Jari. The abuse went on for five years with different individuals and would have just continued.”
Mr Campbell, who is from Plymouth, and Mrs Campbell, who is from Slough, Berkshire, have lived in Ethiopia for 14 years, where she works at Sandford English Community School. Their case aroused strong feelings among the country's small expat community, many of whom describe the Campbells as “saints”.
The couple compiled a dossier on abuse carried out at TdH's facilities, which were set up to care for children orphaned by the Ethiopian famine of the 1980s. They passed their evidence to charity workers, British officials and Ethiopian politicians in 1999.
It eventually led to the prosecution of David Christie, a British man working for the charity despite a 1965 conviction for child abuse. Christie, originally from Bournemouth, was found guilty of abusing boys under 15 and of procuring boys for his friends. In 2003 he was sentenced to nine years in prison with hard labour.
One of Christie's associates committed suicide while under investigation.
TdH has admitted abuse took place but denied allowing Christie to leave Ethiopia rather than hand him over to the authorities.
In a statement the charity said that it asked the court not to sentence Mrs Campbell because her husband had made a full apology.
“The case is now closed with the Campbells' acknowledgement of wrongdoing and promise to halt their illegal defamation campaign which has been wrongly interpreted as ‘whistle blowing',” a spokesman said.
“From the First Instance Court to the Ethiopian Supreme Court the judges have upheld the Terre Des Hommes argument in this respect and ruled accordingly.”
By Rob Crilly
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article3504750.ece
Jill Campbell, 45, and her husband, Gary, accused Terre des Hommes-Lausanne (TdH) of covering up the scandal at its Jari children's village in the 1990s.
The charity successfully brought a defamation case against the couple, who are well-known in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, for their charity work.
But this morning, in a five-minute hearing, TdH asked the court not to jail Mrs Campbell for refusing to withdraw her allegations.
Her husband had already agreed to apologise in order to stay at home and care for their two adopted children.
Mrs Campbell said that she regretted nothing and the decision vindicated her work exposing sex abuse.
“I was all set to for prison,” she told The Times as she left court with supporters who included boys abused at Jari.
“This is the first time the charity has done the right thing.
“The time and money spent pursuing this case for seven years could have been better spent working out counselling for the boys, or on compensation or pursuing paedophiles.”
She added that the only reason the case had been dropped was because the charity had been surprised by the media attention it had attracted.
One of the survivors of abuse said that he was delighted by the outcome. “The Campbells have helped me with my education, with jobs and have been like a family to me,” he said.
“If it wasn't for them then no-one would know what had happened at Jari. The abuse went on for five years with different individuals and would have just continued.”
Mr Campbell, who is from Plymouth, and Mrs Campbell, who is from Slough, Berkshire, have lived in Ethiopia for 14 years, where she works at Sandford English Community School. Their case aroused strong feelings among the country's small expat community, many of whom describe the Campbells as “saints”.
The couple compiled a dossier on abuse carried out at TdH's facilities, which were set up to care for children orphaned by the Ethiopian famine of the 1980s. They passed their evidence to charity workers, British officials and Ethiopian politicians in 1999.
It eventually led to the prosecution of David Christie, a British man working for the charity despite a 1965 conviction for child abuse. Christie, originally from Bournemouth, was found guilty of abusing boys under 15 and of procuring boys for his friends. In 2003 he was sentenced to nine years in prison with hard labour.
One of Christie's associates committed suicide while under investigation.
TdH has admitted abuse took place but denied allowing Christie to leave Ethiopia rather than hand him over to the authorities.
In a statement the charity said that it asked the court not to sentence Mrs Campbell because her husband had made a full apology.
“The case is now closed with the Campbells' acknowledgement of wrongdoing and promise to halt their illegal defamation campaign which has been wrongly interpreted as ‘whistle blowing',” a spokesman said.
“From the First Instance Court to the Ethiopian Supreme Court the judges have upheld the Terre Des Hommes argument in this respect and ruled accordingly.”
By Rob Crilly
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article3504750.ece
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