Thais probe Brit’s rape claim

Thai police are investigating a rape allegation made by a British tourist who claims that officers refused to file charges on her behalf when she initially reported the crime.

Police Colonel Krissana Pattanacharoen, deputy police spokesman, said an independent committee was established on Sunday to investigate claims that police on a Thai resort island had failed to file charges when the tourist reported she had been raped.

He said the committee would take seven days to come to a conclusion.

According to a report in the local online newspaper Samui Times, an unidentified 19-year-old British national claimed that she was drugged, robbed and raped on the island of Koh Tao on June 26.

The report claimed that Thai police “were happy to make a report of the robbery but refused to take any details of the rape” when the teenager told police on a nearby island what had happened.

Thai officials claim that she never included allegations of rape in her initial report.

“They (police) have already said before that the person filing the charges did not include this (rape) charge,” Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday.

“They only reported that they lost their belongings. She didn’t file charges saying she was assaulted or raped or anything,” he added.

Mr Prawit also denied speculation that there were influential people behind the alleged police cover-up.