NZ abuser of orphans jailed for seven years

New Zealander Eoghan McBride has been sentenced to seven years in an Indian jail for sexually abusing orphans.

McBride, 63, from Upper Hutt, was extradited from New Zealand to Goa in 1999 after Indian police laid child sex abuse charges dating back to the late 1980s and early 1990s.



He was found guilty of sodomising children from a Goan orphanage and criminal conspiracy.

On Saturday, he was sentenced to seven years' jail for the sex offences and three years on the conspiracy charges. The sentences are to be served concurrently.

British-born Freddy Peats, who ran the orphanage, is serving a life sentence for child sex offences.

Warrants to arrest an Australian and a Swede are outstanding.

A spokeswoman for End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, Denise Ritchie, said her group was contacted in 1996 by a Goan child rights group seeking help with McBride's arrest and extradition.

"It is an excellent result and a small measure of justice for the child victims," she said.

"It puts all New Zealanders on notice that when it comes to the sexual abuse of foreign children, no place is too far for the arm of the law to reach."

- NZPA