Crime
Australian Karl Joseph Kraus 94 Dies in Chiang Mai Prison
Karl Joseph Kraus, 93, being carried by fellow inmates from a prison bus into a wheelchair before being taken into court
CHIANG MAIĀ – Australian National Karl Joseph Kraus 94, who allegedly raped four young sisters in Thailand has died in jail in Chiang Mai.
MrKraus, was arrested in 2010 in one of the worst cases of child sexual abuse ever uncovered in Thailand.
German-born Kraus, a former railway worker from Sydney who lived for a time in Western Australia, was accused of abusing the four sisters for almost two years.
The youngest was aged five when the alleged abuse began. At the time of his arrest, police said they found more than 100 photos of naked children on the hard drive of his computer.
Facing as much as 20 years in jail if found guilty, Kraus was granted bail of B400,000 and soon after flew to Myanmar. However, he was subsequently arrested for being in that country without a valid visa and was sent back to Thailand.
Kraus pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault. He had attempted to have the charges against him dropped because of ill health.
His lawyer had argued that he suffered from depression and advanced prostate cancer.
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