Ross Dunkley and Yangon Nightlife

Ross Dunkley and an unidentified Australian Embassy official outside the courtroom before his 4 April appearance

April is the hottest month in Burma, and no time to be wearing a tie and long sleeves. Not unless you're appearing in court.

The judge read out the charges, and seems there's five of them.

The first four are: assault, wrongful restraint, "causing simple hurt" and administering drugs.

The plaintiff, or complainant, is Khine Zar Win, sex worker (which seems to be a socially acceptable euphemism for prostitute). 

The fifth is that he's violated his visa conditions by committing a criminal act, namely any one of the above.

Ross has been told  to come back to court next Monday.

Ross believes that the charges will fall, not least since KZW keeps trying (unsuccessfully) to withdraw them.

"Still, many of Dunkley's supporters fear he is in for a difficult trial, which might end in a lengthy jail term."

Downtown Yangon & 369 Club

Ross met Khine Zar Win at the 369 Club on the evening of 18 January.

(Arrow points to the top end of the nightclub strip, corner of Anawrahta and Shwedagon Pagoda Rds;

oval on far right shows Traders Hotel, oval at top centre shows Aung San Market).

There's general agreement that they went home together, but conflicting accounts of what happened next. As it's still before the courts I won't go into that.

But what can patrons of the 369 Club expect?