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He is 93 and accused of rape.
Karl Joseph Kraus, an Australian living in Thailand, appeared in a court in Chiang Mai province on Monday for raping four sisters - aged between seven and 15 - in 2010.
Kraus had to be carried from a prison bus into a wheelchair by other inmates to be wheeled into the dock, the Daily Mail reported. After being arrested in 2010 and bailed on suspicion of rape, he attempted to flee to Myanmar last year.
He was deported back to Thailand for not having a valid visa.
His lawyers are now trying to get the rape case dropped, arguing that he is too ill to stand trial.
Last month, he told the Sydney Morning Telegraph "I'll be dead" before proceedings conclude, adding "I've done nothing wrong".
Kraus' lawyers said the German-born Australian citizen is suffering from an array of serious illnesses such as dementia and cancer.
But while out on bail, he was seen driving around Chiang Mai and did not seem to be in poor health.
The former railway worker from Sydney had been living in Thailand for more than a decade when he first met the four girls in 2008.
Thai police claimed that Kraus offered to teach the children English and persuaded them to visit his house by offering them chocolate and money.
The girls then told their parents that he had repeatedly attacked them and the parents reported Kraus to the police.
Officials allegedly found more than 100 child pornography images on his computer, many of which had been e-mailed to addresses based outside Thailand.
Kraus, meanwhile, alleged that he was told the case would be dropped if he agreed to pay the police a bribe of about 450,000 baht (S$19,000).
Karl Joseph Kraus, an Australian living in Thailand, appeared in a court in Chiang Mai province on Monday for raping four sisters - aged between seven and 15 - in 2010.
Kraus had to be carried from a prison bus into a wheelchair by other inmates to be wheeled into the dock, the Daily Mail reported. After being arrested in 2010 and bailed on suspicion of rape, he attempted to flee to Myanmar last year.
He was deported back to Thailand for not having a valid visa.
His lawyers are now trying to get the rape case dropped, arguing that he is too ill to stand trial.
Last month, he told the Sydney Morning Telegraph "I'll be dead" before proceedings conclude, adding "I've done nothing wrong".
Kraus' lawyers said the German-born Australian citizen is suffering from an array of serious illnesses such as dementia and cancer.
But while out on bail, he was seen driving around Chiang Mai and did not seem to be in poor health.
The former railway worker from Sydney had been living in Thailand for more than a decade when he first met the four girls in 2008.
Thai police claimed that Kraus offered to teach the children English and persuaded them to visit his house by offering them chocolate and money.
The girls then told their parents that he had repeatedly attacked them and the parents reported Kraus to the police.
Officials allegedly found more than 100 child pornography images on his computer, many of which had been e-mailed to addresses based outside Thailand.
Kraus, meanwhile, alleged that he was told the case would be dropped if he agreed to pay the police a bribe of about 450,000 baht (S$19,000).
