Thai/English
A retired school teacher from Australia has been arrested in Thailand and charged with paedophilia after police found a 9-year-old boy in his apartment.
Police in the city of Pattaya raided John Joseph Kosky's apartment on Monday morning.
Police said they arrested Kosky after they found him and the boy in the condominium apartment dressed only in underwear.
The 66-year-old Australian from Melbourne was expected to appear in court later Monday.
Thai police raided the beach-front apartment in Pattaya early Monday.
Police said they discovered both John Joseph Kosky and the nine-year-old from north- eastern Thailand in the flat and dressed only in underwear.
The 66 year-old Australian, who's lived in the coastal town for the past year, had been an English teacher at the Pattaya International School.
Kosky says he's now retired and was giving the boy private tuition.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Kosky: I'm a teacher, a retired teacher. I was a teacher at the international school. I'm retired now, retired. I take care of the boy, teach him English, send him to school.
Policeman: Now you teacher or not.
Kosky: Finished now."
SUPER CAPTION: Joseph Kosky
The boy's uncle had hired Kosky to teach the youngster English.
Police said the boy told police that he and Kosky had been having sex for about two months, and that Kosky paid him two U-S dollars each time.
Thai police say they were tipped off by receptionists at the condominium who became suspicious of Kosky because young boys frequently visited his apartment unescorted.
SOUNDBITE: (Thai)
"I've seen him (Kosky) going up to his room with different boys around the age of 13 to 14 years old."
SUPER CAPTION: Siligma Acolum, Hotel receptionist
Hotel staff told police the nine-year-old looked frightened, so they called for help.
Kosky now faces the possibility of separate charges in Australia. The Child Sex Tourism Act - passed in 1994 - allows Australian citizens to be prosecuted for offences committed overseas.
Pattaya is known as a magnet for those seeking illicit sex and drugs. More than forty foreigners were murdered there last year, some by gangs of prostitutes.
Thai Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh recently called the city Thailand's "greatest source of evil," but 62 per cent of Bangkok residents surveyed last week said it was their favourite holiday destination.
