EXCLUSIVE: Cameroon man in Thailand: My life has been wrecked by false rape accusation

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Thaivisa exclusive: Cameroon man in Thailand: My life has been wrecked by false rape accusation

 

File photo: Reuters

 

A Cameroon man living in Thailand has told Thaivisa that his life is in ruins after a Swedish woman falsely accused him of rape in Bangkok.

 

The case is similar to one involving a French policeman and a British teen. The Frenchman was released earlier this week after being held for nearly two months on spurious charges.

 

The Frenchman, like the Cameroonian, was also black.

 

Didier (assumed name), now 32, was locked up for more than nine months with another Cameroon man after the Swedish woman said they raped her at the Fuse condominium in Wong Wian Yai, Thonburi.

 

The other man had consensual sex with the woman but Didier refused to have anything to do with her because she didn’t have a condom.

 

Later she went to police and said she was raped. Only the DNA from his friend was on the woman but both men were held regardless of that fact.

 

Now despite his release his family in Bamenda, north western Cameroon, are refusing to have anything to do with him – he told Thaivisa that in Africa that often happens when people go to jail, even if they are subsequently proved to be innocent.

 

He said: “There is a war against men because men get accused of rape. And when proven innocent nothing happens to the accuser.

 

“I spent nine months and 11 days in a Thai jail cell based on a false rape accusation. And at the end the lady ran away.

 

“My life has been destroyed”.

 

The incident that led to his arrest happened in October 2016. It was the following July before he was released. Since then he has had to do a year’s probation, he said.

 

He came to Thailand in 2012 on a tourist visa and later changed this to a student visa with the help of a Thai school. He told Thaivisa that he cannot speak Thai.

 

On October 6th 2016 he went with his friend Patrick (assumed name) for some drinks in Khao San Road where they met the Swedish woman. She went to the ATM to get money and was even buying the men drinks.

 

Didier said she went back to her friend’s room at Fuse where they had consensual sex. She then went to Didier's room but he refused to have anything to do with her.

 

He said that his friend put the woman in a taxi then the police came and arrested them. Both were accused of rape and held for nine months.

 

Didier had the support of a lawyer. His friend Patrick has since disappeared after release.

 

Didier was originally supported by his family when he came to Thailand but now they have rejected him leaving him in a desperate situation.

 

The case came to light when Didier contacted Thaivisa in the wake of the release of the French policeman who was accused of rape in April by a British woman aged just 18.

 

The allegations proved to be completely groundless and the man in the case also felt that the woman should face charges of making a false accusation.

 

The teen is believed to have left Thailand and is now thought to be travelling, possibly in Asia.

 

Didier asked Thaivisa what recourse he has to possibly press for charges against the Swedish woman.

 

Commenting on his Facebook page, where he received support from friends, Didier called for women who file false rape claims to be severely punished.

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-06-09

 

 

* At the request of the person in this story, Thaivisa as changed his name in order to protect his identity. 

 

[AGareth2]

13 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

women who file false rape claims to be severely punished.

same sentence would be fair

[anon789561]

i wasn't there obviously but his story sounds believable and the evidence would suggest so to. it's just plain wrong that he should be banged up for that long and then she just jaunts off home like nothing has happened. 

[darksidedog]

Sadly, he is not alone. For too many years the cops have publicly displayed everyone they have arrested and branded them as guilty, even though the courts VERY regularly found otherwise. No compensation for being wrongly arrested and charged and many, many lives ruined from the often very sick, but regularly false accusations filed. As seen recently, nothing has changed much and until the cops become financially responsible for compensating those wrongly arrested, it probably won't.

[Myran]

A tragic reality that seems all too common. It seems the justice system gets twisted around when it comes to rape allegations from women. It's supposed to be "innocent until proven guilty", but when someone is accused of rape it often seems like that person has the burden of evidence and has to prove he's innocent. There are several cases in Sweden where the only thing that saved accused men from getting lengthy prison sentences and completely ruined lives were audio recordings that proved them innocent.

 

But even when the woman is found out to be lying, she only gets a suspended sentence and has to pay a thousand bucks in damages. False rape allegations should result in the same punishment as actual rape.

[poanoi]

1 hour ago, Myran said:

 False rape allegations should result in the same punishment as actual rape. 

agreed

[anon789561]

the only flaw i can see with giving the victim the same sentence would be in the cases where she may actually have been telling the truth but the court decide there's insufficient evidence to find the perp guilty. if it was 100% proven the accusation was false then i would agreee

[jenny2017]

He came to Thailand in 2012 on a tourist visa and later changed this to a student visa with the help of a Thai school. He told Thaivisa that he cannot speak Thai.

 

On October 6th 2016 he went with his friend Patrick (assumed name) for some drinks in Khao San Road where they met the Swedish woman. She went to the ATM to get money and was even buying the men drinks.

 

  2012 on a tourist visa, then changed into a student visa. but still, now he can't speak Thai. From where did he get his visas for the following years and on what did he live in Thailand?

 

 Did he become a teacher, or did he sell something that's considered illegal? 

I feel very sorry for him that he was innocent, but I don't think that Thaivisa will be able to turn time back. The Swedish woman should get jail, at least the time they had to sit in, to understand what she did to them. 

 

  

[ukrules]

Maybe he can somehow turn Thai law to his advantage, defamation rules spring to mind.

 

[taipan1949]

7 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

He came to Thailand in 2012 on a tourist visa and later changed this to a student visa with the help of a Thai school. He told Thaivisa that he cannot speak Thai.

 

On October 6th 2016 he went with his friend Patrick (assumed name) for some drinks in Khao San Road where they met the Swedish woman. She went to the ATM to get money and was even buying the men drinks.

 

  2012 on a tourist visa, then changed into a student visa. but still, now he can't speak Thai. From where did he get his visas for the following years and on what did he live in Thailand?

 

 Did he become a teacher, or did he sell something that's considered illegal? 

I feel very sorry for him that he was innocent, but I don't think that Thaivisa will be able to turn time back. The Swedish woman should get jail, at least the time they had to sit in, to understand what she did to them. 

 

  

I agree, how did he support himself so long in Thailand? I lived there with a very good pension but still had to watch my spending.

[jenny2017]

5 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Maybe he can somehow turn Thai law to his advantage, defamation rules spring to mind.

 

Over the years I had to figure out that nothing is as it seems to be. No way that he can turn Thai law to his advantage, he's coloured. 

[Myran]

1 hour ago, Happy enough said:

the only flaw i can see with giving the victim the same sentence would be in the cases where she may actually have been telling the truth but the court decide there's insufficient evidence to find the perp guilty. if it was 100% proven the accusation was false then i would agreee

Absolutely, I'm just talking about cases where you can prove that the woman was lying.

[impulse]

9 minutes ago, Myran said:

1 hour ago, Happy enough said:

the only flaw i can see with giving the victim the same sentence would be in the cases where she may actually have been telling the truth but the court decide there's insufficient evidence to find the perp guilty. if it was 100% proven the accusation was false then i would agreee

Absolutely, I'm just talking about cases where you can prove that the woman was lying.

 

The unintended consequence being that even if the woman has a change of heart (or memories if she was in a blackout) and decides to come clean, she's going to be understandably reluctant.  And an innocent man will languish in prison.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-06-09

 

Just curious -- was any part of this guy's account as given to ThaiVisa corroborated in any way prior to posting the story here?

 

Did anyone check with the local police, with the local prosecutor's office? Was his original arrest and the rape allegation publicly reported anywhere at the time of the original incident?

 

There's absolutely no attribution for any of the details provided in this post, other than presumably what the guy involved told ThaiVisa after reading about the release of the French guy recently.

 

 

[Sir Dude]

A good lesson to be learned here for all non Thais. There is no due process here or due diligence from the RTP, plus you can kiss an apology or compensation goodbye to the wind. Many people get caught out by this 3rd world policing methodology that is in practice here, which is due to a whole load of convoluted mixture of nonsense and zero compassion for anyone (unless rich). You are on shaky moving ground at best...especially if operating in tourist hot-spots. At any moment things can do a 180 and the more attention you bring to yourself the more likely you are to register on the radar of certain entities. Also, have to remember that they are targeting certain sections of tourists that have drawn the attention of the police profilers...nuff said.

[Myran]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

The unintended consequence being that even if the woman has a change of heart (or memories if she was in a blackout) and decides to come clean, she's going to be understandably reluctant.  And an innocent man will languish in prison.

Sure, but does that ever happen? My guess is that many more would be deterred from making false rape accusations if the punishment was much more severe, compared to the number of women who would refrain from voluntarily admitting they were lying.

 

Naturally, there are no perfect solutions to this problem and it's definitely a complex issue.

[Toknarok]

      Swedish women and alleged rape charges. As soon as I read this Julian Assange sprang to mind.

Edited June 9, 2018 by Toknarok

[utalkin2me]

Seems like his culture has ruined his life, not the justice system. 

[johnsuma01]

19 hours ago, jenny2017 said:

Over the years I had to figure out that nothing is as it seems to be. No way that he can turn Thai law to his advantage, he's coloured. 

lol ! are thais white ?

[Destiny1990]

How this African was able to live here all these years? Bangkok and studying visas costs lots of money

He wasn’t working only studying so probably  scamming?

[Kieran00001]

22 hours ago, AGareth2 said:

same sentence would be fair

 

If it can be proven to have been a false allegation then they should be charged, but you can't just hand out sentences to everyone who accuses someone but the court fails to get a conviction, many many guilty people walk free and that would mean many many victims being punished.  We need women to be confident in pressing charges against rapists, not fearing that they could go to prison if the court fails to reach a verdict.

[MUSICMAN16]

when in thailand make love to thai ladies not farang ladies

treat the thai ladies right and everything will be ok

[FishbowlFX]

I always demand for receipt after doing it but the best is...no woman no cry...

Edited June 10, 2018 by FishbowlFX

[Xandernow]

I am glad Thai visa published this story cause It happens much too often that people get accused and sentenced when they are innocent in Thailand. This man is still rather lucky cause he is free but I know of people who are in jail for many years being innocent. Specially when you are not rich and for instance colored you have less chance on a honest trial. At the moment there is a witch hunt going on for pedophiles. That means that besides the people who are guilty and rightfully get arrested also people who are innocent get caught. 

If you do not have enough money for a good lawyer you can be in big trouble ending up behind bars for many years. Justice in Thailand?? No way! Much more pressure should be put on Thai authorities to change this.

 

 

[Media1]

Woman should see 10 years jail for false claims mandatory. And be stoned on the street

[Media1]

2 minutes ago, Xandernow said:

I am glad Thai visa published this story cause It happens much too often that people get accused and sentenced when they are innocent in Thailand. This man is still rather lucky cause he is free but I know of people who are in jail for many years being innocent. Specially when you are not rich and for instance colored you have less chance on a honest trial. At the moment there is a witch hunt going on for pedophiles. That means that besides the people who are guilty and rightfully get arrested also people who are innocent get caught. 

If you do not have enough money for a good lawyer you can be in big trouble ending up behind bars for many years. Justice in Thailand?? No way! Much more pressure should be put on Thai authorities to change this.

 

 

Yes with a new PM FUTURE FORWARD

[Just Weird]

23 hours ago, Happy enough said:

i wasn't there obviously but his story sounds believable and the evidence would suggest so to. it's just plain wrong that he should be banged up for that long and then she just jaunts off home like nothing has happened. 

Evidence?  What evidence?  There is only the word of one Cameroonian who was convicted of rape.

 

 

[Orcwed]

Quote

Didier refused to have anything to do with her because she didn’t have a condom

Yeah, I hate when you have drinks with Swedish women and they want to have sex...

 

This guy sounds totally credible!   ;)

[Just Weird]

21 hours ago, jenny2017 said:

He came to Thailand in 2012 on a tourist visa and later changed this to a student visa with the help of a Thai school. He told Thaivisa that he cannot speak Thai.

 

On October 6th 2016 he went with his friend Patrick (assumed name) for some drinks in Khao San Road where they met the Swedish woman. She went to the ATM to get money and was even buying the men drinks.

 

  2012 on a tourist visa, then changed into a student visa. but still, now he can't speak Thai. From where did he get his visas for the following years and on what did he live in Thailand?

 

 Did he become a teacher, or did he sell something that's considered illegal? 

I feel very sorry for him that he was innocent, but I don't think that Thaivisa will be able to turn time back. The Swedish woman should get jail, at least the time they had to sit in, to understand what she did to them. 

 

  

Why should the woman be jailed?  Who said that what this Cameroonian claims, who is apparently here illegally (got a student visa "with the help of a Thai school" and can't speak any Thai?), is actually the truth?  Are Cameroonian tourists (?) extending their holiday via student visas renowned for their honesty here?

[anon789561]

13 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Evidence?  What evidence?  There is only the word of one Cameroonian who was convicted of rape.

 

 

i meant the fact they only found his friends DNA on her and not his but i realize that's not 100% evidence, but you get my point