Masseuse tells Thai embassy rep she was not sexually assaulted

BANGKOK: A Thai masseuse, who had previously claimed that she was raped by a Malaysian Immigration officer in Malacca, has told a Thai embassy representative that the incident did not take place.

A Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman, in a statement yesterday, said the woman had denied that she was sexually assaulted as claimed.

“The woman told the Thai embassy (in Malaysia) that no sexual assault took place and that she was not questioned in a separate room, as reported,” said the ministry.

Embassy representatives had met the woman on March 23.

The ministry said the woman and her three countrymen had been moved to a women’s shelter in Johor, as per a court order issued under Malaysian anti-human-trafficking laws.

Previously, it was reported that the 32-year-old woman had told her sister that she was raped by an Immigration officer and forced to perform oral sex on him at the Machap Umboo Immigration Depot. The incident supposedly occurred when her statement was being recorded on March 9.

Following the claim, Malacca police arrested the Immigration officer at his office on Friday and remanded him for three days. He was released on police bail yesterday. Bernama