THAILAND: A Brit backpacker was raped on a Thai island while sleeping on the street after her attacker allegedly cut her clothes off with scissors.
The alleged attack took place on Koh Phi Phi Island, which lies off the coast of Krabi in southern Thailand.
The 21-year-old woman had been out with a male friend on Koh Phi Phi Island, which lies off the coast of Krabi in southern Thailand.
The lone traveller and her pal had enjoyed mass water fights before deciding to head home in the early hours of Monday April 15.
But according to reports, they couldn’t make it back to their hostel so they slumped on the ground outside a restaurant.
At around 3am, local Trairat Changsanan was walking past the restaurant and noticed them.
He told police he allegedly used scissors to cut off the woman’s denim shorts, before he raped her as he had been out drinking.
When she woke up the following morning, the woman feared she’d been raped and contacted police.
Officers checked CCTV footage and began to trace the alleged attacker. Changsanan was arrested yesterday and allegedly confessed to the rape.
In handcuffs, he was back to the scene of the attack to show officers exactly where the alleged incident took place.
Police Colonel Krissana Patanacharoen, the police deputy spokesman, said that the victim reported to the Koh Phi Phi police on Monday morning at 10am but could not identify the alleged rapist as she appeared to be very drunk.
He said: “She came with no actual evidence of the incident, so the investigators took her to the hospital for her body to be checked in order to find traces of sexual abuse.
“Meanwhile, police officers went to the area to find possible evidence and check CCTV.”
Cameras outside the restaurant showed the alleged attack while others in the area showed him walking suspiciously. The spokesman added: “He has been taken to Krabi Provincial Police and currently under the police custody.”
Trairat now faces charges of rape and violent threatening behaviour against a person who in a state of inability to resist.
Officers said they expressed their condolences” to the alleged victim and slammed the suspect for “damaging the image of tourism in the country”.
They said that the young woman had been drinking alcoholic drinks from a bucket until the bar closed at 1am.
She initially could not remember anything about the incident when she woke up because she was “drunk and sleeping’’.
The attack is said to have happened during Thailand’s Songkran New Year celebrations, which originally began as a sedate annual festival in which water was sprinkled on elderly residents for good luck.
But in recent years they have developed into a three day long booze-fuelled festival which attracts holidaymakers from around the world – often drawn in by party promotions in the cities and islands.
Police have tried to crack down on heavy drinking during the national holiday and encourage women to ‘’dress conservatively’’ to reduce the risk of sexual assaults. – The Sun
