18 Dec 2015

Paedophile deported from Thailand

8:32 pm on 18 December 2015

A convicted paedophile has been deported from Thailand, after he was arrested this month for suspected child sex offences.

Peter Dundas Walbran

Peter Dundas Walbran Photo: FACEBOOK

Peter Dundas Walbran was jailed in Indonesia in 2012 for two years, for the rape and molestation of Indonesian boys as young as eight, over a nine year period.

Australian investigator Glen Hulley tracked the New Zealander to a school in Thailand, where he says he had been working for the past eight months, overseeing children aged 12 to 17 years old. He had been tracking him since his release from an Indonesia prison.

"He got on a plane and flew to Thailand, where we know he decided to surround himself with children again and become a school teacher.

"To me that demonstrates clearly that he has no remorse for the crimes he committed in Indonesia, he is not rehabilitated and he is demonstrating a course of conduct that I have strong belief he will do again."

Walbran posed a real danger to children and his passport needed to be confiscated, he said.

"He continually goes to south east Asia. He has now been blacklisted in Indonesia and now he has been blacklisted in Thailand.

"He has every reason to flee New Zealand and I believe he will go straight back to south east Asia and he will choose another country that he will know will be harder to get him out of and harder for us to find him."

Police said they were notified of Walbran's return, and met him when he arrived in the country. He had been cooperative, police said.

Because Walbran is not covered by the newly-passed Returning Offenders Act, he can choose whether to engage with police.

The office of the Minister of Internal Affairs says no action can be taken over Peter Walbran's New Zealand passport because his sex crime convictions were under his Australian passport.

The supervision regime in the Act applies to returning offenders who were sentenced to more than one year in prison in another country; return to New Zealand within six months of their release from custody overseas; and were imprisoned for behaviour that would be an imprisonable offence under New Zealand law.