Sex assault on German tourist
POLICE TOOK JUST HOURS ON MONDAY (Feb 26) to track down and arrest a motorbike taxi driver in Phuket Town wanted for sexually assaulting a German tourist.
Officers from the Tourist Police and Phuket City Police began their hunt for the suspect after the German woman filed a complaint at Phuket City Police Station at 4:26am Monday.
The woman, 37, had ventured out to enjoy the Walking Street markets in the Phuket Old Town area last Sunday night. At about 00:45am (Monday) she hailed a motorbike taxi to take her back to her hotel on Koh Siray, in Moo 1, Ratsada, for B150.
Along the way, the motorbike taxi driver turned to her and asked her her name. He then kissed her on the cheek then grabbed her hand and forced her to touch his penis.
When the woman pulled her hand away, the motorbike taxi driver grabbed her hand and repeated the action. He then used his hand to grab her genitals, the woman told police.
Afraid of what might happen next, the woman tourist jumped off the motorbike and suffered a minor injury in the fall.
The motorbike taxi driver stopped and was approaching her, but by that time a “good citizen” was already coming to her aid. The motorbike taxi driver turned and fled the scene.
Officers checked CCTV to find out in which direction the motorbike taxi driver fled. Officers also tracked down the mobile phone number that was used by the motorbike taxi driver to call the hotel on Koh Siray to confirm the hotel’s address.
The investigation led officers to a rented house in Surin Soi 2 on the east side of Phuket Town, where they arrested Phongphat Klaithongkam, 18, still registered as a resident of Nakhon Sri Thammarat, on Monday afternoon.
The mobile phone number Phongphat used to call the hotel was registered to Phongphat’s stepmother, police explained.
Phongphat denied that the foreign woman was sexually harassed but was soon positively identified by the German tourist, police added.
While waiting to identify Phongphat, the German woman was in clear distress and unable to stop crying. Staff from the hotel, police and friends of the victim were present to offer support.
After regaining her composure, the German woman showed police where Phongphat had picked her up, at the Chartered Bank Intersection in the Phuket Old Town area, and identified what happened where along the route.
Police said they were continuing to gather evidence against Phongphat in order to press charges against him. Already seized as evidence are the clothes he wore at the time and the motorbike used during the incident, as confirmed by CCTV.
Phongphat was taken to Phuket City Police Station “to proceed with legal proceedings”, police confirmed. Eakkapop Thongtub