Peter John Dalglish, the Canadian humanitarian, has been sentenced to nine years in prison by the Kavre District Court on paedophilia charges. The court also ordered Dalglish to pay Rs 500,000 each to two boys he victimised.

A single bench of district judge Arjun Adhikari issued the verdict on Monday. The district court sentenced Dalglish to a nine-year jail term for abusing a boy identified by a code number 295 and seven years for another boy code numbered 294. The convict received a nine-year jail term as it was a single case involving two victims.

Dalglish, who appeared in court in a red cap and a brown t-shirt, appeared tense. He refused to admit to any wrongdoing and said that he was working for the welfare of people across the world. He instead blamed the Nepal Police for false charges.

A team from the Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) had arrested Dalglish from his residence in Mandan Deupur, Kavre, on April 7, 2018. Two boys, then aged 12 and 14, had been rescued from Dalglish’s residence. One of the boys was the son of Dalglish’s domestic help.

Dalglish is a high-profile humanitarian, who served as country representative of UN Habitat-Afghanistan, and is also a member of the Order of Canada. He had founded Street Kids International to work for conflict victims and street children. In 2002, he had also worked in Nepal as Chief Technical Advisor under the UN Child Labour Programme.