An Australian man who raped children at Indian orphanages has been released immediately after being convicted. Last month, Paul Henry Dean, 75, was found guilty of “unnatural sex” with young boys and men at an orphanage for children with visual, speech, and hearing impairments. The charges were first laid in Andhra Pradesh in 2001. after which Dean moved to Odisha, where he was yet again accused of sexually abusing more boys. Dean has lived in India for over four decades, having fled Australia on a fake passport in 1976.
He was sentenced to three years in prison on February 21, along with a Rs 12,000 fine. He was however, released the same day by the same court after filing an appeal. S Naidu, the inspector of police in Vishakhapatnam, said police were concerned the convicted paedophile was free in the community. “It is not at all safe for the general public, especially children, if he is out. Dean is good at fooling people,” he said. Having fled Australia using a fake passport, it is alleged that he stole $100,000 Australian dollars from a travel company. Dean was living in India, posing as a Catholic missionary, claiming to have been a professor of agriculture in Australia.
He feigned being a priest and learned surgery from local doctors, eventually performing amputations and cataract surgeries in leper colonies across south India. Authorities however, allege that he was regularly abusing young boys and men since the early 1980s, in the communities he worked. One alleged teenage victim who spoke to the police, said, “Tata (Grandfather) tells me to put oil on his penis and hand-pump him. He also undresses me and masturbates me. This has been going on since 2005. He threatened to beat me up if I told.”
Another 15 year old victim who suffered from hearing and speech impairments, committed suicide in 1985 after accusing Dean of sexual abuse. Vidya Reddy, whose organisation Tulir works to prevent child abuse in India, said poor coordination between Indian jurisdictions meant police or courts were rarely aware of the history of the offenders they were assessing for bail. “Except for a few people who have been following Paul Dean since 2001, very few people will have connected the dots on him. They will be looking at his cases in isolation,” Reddy said.
