THIRD World children have suffered for the actions of a leading local charity chief who was convicted of indecent assault earlier this week. World Vision Hong Kong said yesterday that five sponsors had withdrawn their support after its chief executive, Pastor David Ngai Kung-ming, was found guilty on Monday. Three of the donors sponsored four children in the Third World. The others had made regular general cash contributions. Ngai, who was fined $8,000 for assaulting a former colleague, has been suspended from duty until his appeal. 'The court case is nothing to do with our organisation. We hope our donors will understand this, otherwise the final victims will be the poor, needy people in the Third World,' said Liann Chan Shui-ying, local operations manager. But she admitted they feared more donors would quit and intended to write to its 60,000 local sponsors asking them to maintain their support. The charity last year received $99.1 million in donations, much of which was spent on the Child Sponsorship Programme. Shirley Kong Sau-lai, assistant manager of the charity's donor services department, said they were arranging new donors for the four children - in Thailand, India, Brazil and Indonesia. 'There will be no problem in finding new sponsors, but I'm sure the children will be affected. 'The sponsors were not only their money providers, but friends. They wrote to each other and built up a good relationship,' Ms Kong said. Under the programme, donors pay a child $180 a month for an average of five years to support his food and education. The money will also be spent on community development in the place he lives. Donors are encouraged to write to the children through World Vision to build up friendships. Hong Kong has about 19,000 donors sponsoring 23,100 children.