I barely know who Gary Glitter is, but he's now been sentenced to three years in prison in Vietnam for sexually molesting (is that redundant? is there another kind of criminal 'molestation'?) two local girls (aged 11 & 12)

Criminal justice in Vietnam is apparently a little more freewheeling than here:

In addition to prison time, the former hit-maker will have to pay $320 [!] in restitution to each girls' family along with court costs.

... [Judge] Tung decided against giving Glitter the maximum term of seven years in the slammer, opting to go easier and hand him the minimum three years because the musician paid the victims' families $2,000 each [!!!] back in December. And had Glitter been charged with the more serious crime of child rape, he could have faced death by firing squad if convicted. [!!!!!!!!]

Glitter, who has claimed he was only tutoring the girls in English and allowed them to sleep in his bed because they were supposedly afraid of ghosts, has 15 days to appeal his sentence.

03 Mar 06