Avoiding rape is better than victims in peril
Women need to beware of danger in their environment, writes Wassayos Ngamkham
The horror of rapes and murders might bring terrible, almost unbearable grief, but there is some solace knowing the culprits have been caught and brought to justice.
With one female teacher falling prey to a fiendish murder and a university student and an underage daughter sexually assaulted by a drug addict and her father, all of them featuring in recent news reports, it is hard to erase these traumatic feelings, now widely shared by people who learned of the incidents.
As the public comes to terms with the brutal attacks, police officers are beginning to talk more about the prevention of crime rather than crackdowns on culprits, to help women empower themselves as a first step.
Women cannot completely rely on security measures. They have to be more aware of certain unsafe environments and find ways to protect themselves or leave those situations, said Metropolitan Police Division 5 chief Somprasong Yenthuam.
Pol Maj Gen Somprasong oversees the Bang Na area where a female university student was raped on June 26 by a man taking crystal me th amphetamine in a public toilet near the Bang Na intersection in Bangkok. The suspect, identified as Ekapon Sae Tiew, 31, was caught by police last Thursday.
“A big take-away from this case is the environment,” Pol Maj Gen Somprasong said. “It’s a major part of a crime.”
The toilet, where male and female rooms are poorly zoned, was a conducive environment for the rape. There is no wall or partition between the two rooms, Pol Maj Gen Somprasong observed.
The 20-year-old victim told police the suspect approached her in the toilet.
He choked her and pushed her into a closet where he raped her and made off with her gold ring.
“There was no toilet caretaker, so the suspect could also easily enter the restroom waiting for his next victim,” he said.
The suspect was later found entering another female restroom elsewhere, according to investigators with the Metropolitan Police Division 5 who obtained clues about the attacks from security cameras.
They announced an award of 5,000 baht for anyone who could advise on the suspect’s whereabouts for fears he would commit a similar crime. In less than two weeks, the officers had arrested Mr Ekaphon at Sanam Luang, thanks to tip-offs from many people. One of them was the suspect’s friend who said Mr Ekapon phoned him to borrow money.
This was not Mr Ekapon’s first alleged wrongdoing. According to an investigation, he was once detained in 2013 at a petrol station in Samut Prakan after people caught him peeping at women in a toilet.
These repeat sexual offences are a topic of interest among police. In a similar case, they arrested another a man who has a record of sexual crimes.
Chatree Ruamsungnoen, 27, was arrested on July 2 after allegedly killing a female teacher and his neighbour in her room on Sut Banthat Road in Saraburi’s Kaeng Khoi district a day earlier.
The suspect told police he wanted to rape the teacher but later backtracked on what he said, claiming he only intended to rob her and snatch some valuables because he was late in getting paid his salary at work.
Police are not convinced by Mr Chatree’s account as he had allegedly admitted being attracted to the teacher and the suspect was once jailed for almost two years for raping his friend’s wife.
What is etched clearly in people’s minds and sparks public anger is his alleged cold-blooded murder of the teacher as she resisted him.
He is accused of slashing her throat with a long knife, almost beheading the victim. Chularat Towanna, a fifth grade teacher at Saeng Witthaya school, died at the aged of 27.
According to a police investigation, Mr Chatree easily entered Chularat’s house because he had known that the door knob of his neighbour’s room was broken.
This highlights Pol Maj Gen Somprasong’s concern over dangerous environments, which are not only limited to physical conditions. The behaviour of people in the immediate vicinity must also be understood in terms of risk.
Earlier on April 20, police arrested a man identified as Nin, a 36-year-old security guard, at his apartment in Chom Thong district, following an accusation he had raped his 17-year-old daughter two days earlier.
His wife told police she rejected having sex with her husband, who was drunk and arrived home late at night. The following day, she was stunned when learning he allegedly raped his daughter.
Various kinds of environments can present offenders with the chance to attack women, so it is crucial for women to stay alert to those situations to protect themselves, Pol Maj Gen Somprasong warned.
“If they can shut the door to that opportunity, there will be no more victims, and crimes will not occur,” he said.