PARIS - A 61-year-old Frenchman appeared in a Paris court Monday charged with raping or sexually assaulting ten Thai girls aged between six and 11.

Jean-Claude Chamoux was arrested after police burst into his hotel room in the Thai resort of Pattaya in 2005 just after he raped an eight-year-old girl to whose mother he had paid 20 euros (26 dollars), court documents alleged.

He was detained but later released on bail and illegally left the country to return to his home in Paris where French police arrested him in June 2006.

The Paris trial that began Monday behind closed doors is also examining charges that he sexually assaulted two French girls aged three and four.

Those were the original charges against Chamoux but he is also being tried for the alleged offences in Thailand after relatives of the Thai girls decided to take a civil case against him here.

The accused has admitted to carrying out some of the acts of which he is accused, but told investigators he had never had the impression he was forcing the girls to comply with his wishes, the charge sheet alleges.

A verdict was expected Friday.