BANGKOK, THAILAND - A CANADIAN man arrested in Thailand after an unprecedented global manhunt pleaded not guilty in a Bangkok court on Monday to four charges of kidnapping and sexually abusing an underage boy.

Christopher Paul Neil, who could face a maximum of 38 years in jail if convicted on all charges, appeared in criminal court accused of kidnapping, detaining and molesting a minor, and publishing pornography online.

After the judge read the charges and asked how he pleaded, the 33-year-old suspect simply said: 'Deny'.

Neil was seized in northeastern Thailand last October, following a campaign by the international police agency Interpol, which had reconstructed a series of digitally obscured Internet images of a man abusing boys.

The man in the pictures had created a swirl to hide his face, but German computer experts were able to reconstruct the images.

Interpol made its first-ever public appeal for help in identifying the man seen in about 200 graphic online photographs abusing Asian boys.

The agency then posted the suspect's picture on its website and appealed to the public for help, drawing more than 300 replies from around the world.

Neil is now facing criminal charges related to the sexual abuse of a nine-year-old Thai boy in 2003. The boy's father is also seeking about 300,000 baht (S$12,574) in compensation.

Asked about the claim for damages, Neil said: 'I have no money, I have no job, I can't work.' He refused to answer reporters' questions as he left the court.

Thai prosecutor Supachai Kongpraphan said was confident he had enough evidence to convict Neil. Another prosecutor previously said they would present 70 photos to the court to support the charges.

Neil could face a maximum of 15 years in jail for both the molestation and kidnapping charges, and between three and five years for the charges related to illegal detention and publishing online pornography.