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Huge numbers of predators are taking advantage of lax laws in the poverty stricken African country to embark on sick child abuse holidays where they openly target little boys and girls.
A tourist wades into the sea with a small African child in The Gambia – where child sex abuse is rife
A man with a British accent holds a scared toddler in his arms
Sun Online saw first hand how poor Gambian children can be vulnerable to British paedos when we visited the beach resorts that dot Kololi on the country’s picturesque Atlantic coastline.
Our reporter was constantly shocked by the number of unaccompanied African minors he saw being cared for by middle-aged, Western men who did not appear to be their biological fathers.
The encounters witnessed included a girl aged between six and eight having lunch with a balding, white haired man in a restaurant filled with similarly aged tourists.
The same day we saw a stoutly built man in his 50s or 60s wading into the ocean gripping the hand of a tiny African child in white swimming shorts.
Equally unsettling was the sight of a Gambian toddler watching wide-eyed with fear as a middle-aged white woman got into a fist fight with a young black prostitute at a popular beach bar.
It was 11.30pm at night and the air was thick with cigarette smoke. The child, no older than two, was being held closely by a white man with a British accent.
Children sold for £2
Our investigation comes as experts warn that the economic crisis unleashed by the collapse of travel firm Thomas Cook is helping turn the former British colony into a “paedophile paradise” where perverts can operate unchecked.
Thomas Cook flew 45 per cent of The Gambia’s 100,000 annual visitors from the UK to the capital Banjul until it went into liquidation under the weight of its debts in September.
In an exclusive interview, Lamin Fatty, the National Coordinator of the Child Protection Alliance in The Gambia, reveals that both male and female tourists are targeting African minors.
He warns: “Sex is cheap in my country and children are being sold for as little as 150 dalasis, or just over £2 in your currency.
“Some of the parents know their children are being abused and they accept it because they are so desperate for food in their bellies.
“Others are too naïve to realise. They think the Westerner is paying their bills and helping their boy or girl out of the kindness of their heart, while in reality they have bad intentions.
“Child abuse is going on all the time in The Gambia and the government is not doing enough to put a stop to it.
“Our children are being approached directly on the beaches or the street and child abusers from all over Europe including the UK are coming here for this.
“I want to make clear that this does not just involve men but also adult women who are paying for sex with teenage boys in The Gambia.
“We have laws that are supposed to stop this from happening but they are not being enforced so we have become a paradise for paedophiles.”
[...]
Two school-age girls play at the feet of two men, their mums nowhere in sight
A tourist, in the yellow top, sits beside a young black boy at a café
Lawyer and children’s rights advocate Malick Jallow told Sun Online: “While some tourists will always want to help poor Gambians, others will see this situation as an opportunity to exploit young children.
“The problem is that the abuse is sometimes carried out with the blessing of the parents because they are so in need.
“The perception is that white people, or ‘toubabs’ as they call them, have stacks of cash and these parents are often excited that their child has attracted the attention of a white man.
“It actually makes them feel proud so they give their permission for the boy or girl to go with the person and when the police try to question them they will not co-operate.”
Lamin Fatty, National Coordinator of the Children’s Protection Alliance, said this boy shouldn’t be in a bar so late at night, adding: “We do not encourage physical affection with minors”
[...]
“We have a lot of good Samaritans coming to The Gambia but we also have people who use charity as a front to hide their bad intentions.
“The security guards should have questioned these men but there is a culture of inferiority here and they would have been scared to challenge a wealthy Westerner.”
[...]
‘White men approach little boys and girls’
Father-of-four Abdullah Labamba, 48, runs a fruit stand next to one of the many hotels that line Kololi’s palm-tree fringed beach and says he has witnessed paedophiles targeting vulnerable child workers selling peanuts for less than £1 a bag.
He said: “I’ve seen white men approach the little boys and girls right here on the beach. I do my best to stop them.
“I tell the children, ‘Get out of here, this is not a safe place for you.’
“The children will run away but they normally come back. It’s shocking.
“Their parents are desperate for money and they know they won’t be allowed home until they have sold at least five bags.
“Some men try to take advantage of that by offering them £50 for the whole basket. Then they will ask them to come back to go somewhere private.”
[...]
Government response
The Gambian government meanwhile has tried to crack down and in 2013 introduced new laws allowing them to seize hotel properties if children are knowingly abused on the premises.
They also pledged to give out “hefty fines” and “stiff sentences” to paedophiles that are caught.
But incredibly there has been only one successful prosecution since laws were tightened and that man ended up being pardoned by the president.
Norwegian teacher Svein Agesandakar, 57, was found guilty of abusing six children, the youngest aged three, in 2006.
The court heard how he had tricked his way into a hard-up Gambian family by posing as a do-gooder, giving the parents sacks of rice and new shoes in exchange for time alone with their large brood of six kids in a hotel room.
The paedophile had separate convictions for child abuse in Norway but was sentenced to just three years in jail.
Then, in 2018 President Adama Barrow decided to pardon him for reasons that have never been explained.
The pardon was later revoked amidst a public outcry but experts fear his case has given a green light to other paedophiles.
Huge numbers of predators are taking advantage of lax laws in the poverty stricken African country to embark on sick child abuse holidays where they openly target little boys and girls.
A tourist wades into the sea with a small African child in The Gambia – where child sex abuse is rife
A man with a British accent holds a scared toddler in his arms
Sun Online saw first hand how poor Gambian children can be vulnerable to British paedos when we visited the beach resorts that dot Kololi on the country’s picturesque Atlantic coastline.
Our reporter was constantly shocked by the number of unaccompanied African minors he saw being cared for by middle-aged, Western men who did not appear to be their biological fathers.
The encounters witnessed included a girl aged between six and eight having lunch with a balding, white haired man in a restaurant filled with similarly aged tourists.
The same day we saw a stoutly built man in his 50s or 60s wading into the ocean gripping the hand of a tiny African child in white swimming shorts.
Equally unsettling was the sight of a Gambian toddler watching wide-eyed with fear as a middle-aged white woman got into a fist fight with a young black prostitute at a popular beach bar.
It was 11.30pm at night and the air was thick with cigarette smoke. The child, no older than two, was being held closely by a white man with a British accent.
Children sold for £2
Our investigation comes as experts warn that the economic crisis unleashed by the collapse of travel firm Thomas Cook is helping turn the former British colony into a “paedophile paradise” where perverts can operate unchecked.
Thomas Cook flew 45 per cent of The Gambia’s 100,000 annual visitors from the UK to the capital Banjul until it went into liquidation under the weight of its debts in September.
In an exclusive interview, Lamin Fatty, the National Coordinator of the Child Protection Alliance in The Gambia, reveals that both male and female tourists are targeting African minors.
He warns: “Sex is cheap in my country and children are being sold for as little as 150 dalasis, or just over £2 in your currency.
“Some of the parents know their children are being abused and they accept it because they are so desperate for food in their bellies.
“Others are too naïve to realise. They think the Westerner is paying their bills and helping their boy or girl out of the kindness of their heart, while in reality they have bad intentions.
“Child abuse is going on all the time in The Gambia and the government is not doing enough to put a stop to it.
“Our children are being approached directly on the beaches or the street and child abusers from all over Europe including the UK are coming here for this.
“I want to make clear that this does not just involve men but also adult women who are paying for sex with teenage boys in The Gambia.
“We have laws that are supposed to stop this from happening but they are not being enforced so we have become a paradise for paedophiles.”
[...]
Two school-age girls play at the feet of two men, their mums nowhere in sight
A tourist, in the yellow top, sits beside a young black boy at a café
Lawyer and children’s rights advocate Malick Jallow told Sun Online: “While some tourists will always want to help poor Gambians, others will see this situation as an opportunity to exploit young children.
“The problem is that the abuse is sometimes carried out with the blessing of the parents because they are so in need.
“The perception is that white people, or ‘toubabs’ as they call them, have stacks of cash and these parents are often excited that their child has attracted the attention of a white man.
“It actually makes them feel proud so they give their permission for the boy or girl to go with the person and when the police try to question them they will not co-operate.”
Lamin Fatty, National Coordinator of the Children’s Protection Alliance, said this boy shouldn’t be in a bar so late at night, adding: “We do not encourage physical affection with minors”
[...]
“We have a lot of good Samaritans coming to The Gambia but we also have people who use charity as a front to hide their bad intentions.
“The security guards should have questioned these men but there is a culture of inferiority here and they would have been scared to challenge a wealthy Westerner.”
[...]
‘White men approach little boys and girls’
Father-of-four Abdullah Labamba, 48, runs a fruit stand next to one of the many hotels that line Kololi’s palm-tree fringed beach and says he has witnessed paedophiles targeting vulnerable child workers selling peanuts for less than £1 a bag.
He said: “I’ve seen white men approach the little boys and girls right here on the beach. I do my best to stop them.
“I tell the children, ‘Get out of here, this is not a safe place for you.’
“The children will run away but they normally come back. It’s shocking.
“Their parents are desperate for money and they know they won’t be allowed home until they have sold at least five bags.
“Some men try to take advantage of that by offering them £50 for the whole basket. Then they will ask them to come back to go somewhere private.”
[...]
Government response
The Gambian government meanwhile has tried to crack down and in 2013 introduced new laws allowing them to seize hotel properties if children are knowingly abused on the premises.
They also pledged to give out “hefty fines” and “stiff sentences” to paedophiles that are caught.
But incredibly there has been only one successful prosecution since laws were tightened and that man ended up being pardoned by the president.
Norwegian teacher Svein Agesandakar, 57, was found guilty of abusing six children, the youngest aged three, in 2006.
The court heard how he had tricked his way into a hard-up Gambian family by posing as a do-gooder, giving the parents sacks of rice and new shoes in exchange for time alone with their large brood of six kids in a hotel room.
The paedophile had separate convictions for child abuse in Norway but was sentenced to just three years in jail.
Then, in 2018 President Adama Barrow decided to pardon him for reasons that have never been explained.
The pardon was later revoked amidst a public outcry but experts fear his case has given a green light to other paedophiles.
