Belgian paedophile captured hiding in Thailand

A Belgian man who escaped Europe after being sentenced to eight years in prison for raping his young stepdaughter was caught in Pattaya, Thailand, the Pattaya Mail reports. Patrick Frederic Dany Oepen, 41, was apprehended on February 13 by police and immigration officers acting on a request from Belgian law enforcement. Oepen was convicted last year of raping his stepdaughter from when she was 12 until she was 17. He fled Belgium and arrived in Thailand on a tourist visa last April. Thai immigration officials then granted him a student visa allowing him to stay legally until February 9. He is expected to be deported back to Belgium to begin his prison sentence.