The Beaten, Raped, And Murdered Body Of Thai Teen Found On Japanese Ship

[observer21]

There is no mention of the nationality of the crew.  I would imagine they could be

eastern european, philipino, or indian/pakistani.

[sriracha john]

MURDER OF TEEN

Japan urged to detain freighter

Thai authorities have asked for co-operation from the Japanese Embassy to help keep the Panama-registered freighter, Prince of Tokyo, docked in Japan pending the ongoing investigation into the death of a 14-year-old Thai girl on board.

An autopsy also showed that she was sexually assaulted.

"But we are unsure whether all crew members are still on the freighter," Sri Racha Police Station superintendent Colonel Worapon Intase said yesterday.

He said he was informed that the freighter had 21 Filipino crewmen.

The victim was last seen alive in Chon Buri's Sri Racha district on May 31 as she accompanied her mother onto the freighter, which docked in Sri Racha that day.

The mother was hired to do some menial work on the cargo ship.

After the mother finished the job, she could not find her daughter and decided to lodge a complaint with the police.

A week later, the captain of the Prince of Tokyo reported the victim's body had been found. When the freighter arrived in Japan, the body was sent to Thailand and an autopsy was conducted. The girl's funeral will run till tomorrow in Buri Ram.

Yesterday, the girl's mother gave further statements to police.

Worapon said police were now co-operating with the Institute of Forensic Medicine to determine whether the girl was killed in Thailand - or outside its territory.

A crime outside Thai territory would fall under the jurisdiction of the Attorney-General.

- The Nation

[observer21]

MURDER OF TEEN

Japan urged to detain freighter

Thai authorities have asked for co-operation from the Japanese Embassy to help keep the Panama-registered freighter, Prince of Tokyo, docked in Japan pending the ongoing investigation into the death of a 14-year-old Thai girl on board.

An autopsy also showed that she was sexually assaulted.

"But we are unsure whether all crew members are still on the freighter," Sri Racha Police Station superintendent Colonel Worapon Intase said yesterday.

He said he was informed that the freighter had 21 Filipino crewmen.

The victim was last seen alive in Chon Buri's Sri Racha district on May 31 as she accompanied her mother onto the freighter, which docked in Sri Racha that day.

The mother was hired to do some menial work on the cargo ship.

After the mother finished the job, she could not find her daughter and decided to lodge a complaint with the police.

A week later, the captain of the Prince of Tokyo reported the victim's body had been found. When the freighter arrived in Japan, the body was sent to Thailand and an autopsy was conducted. The girl's funeral will run till tomorrow in Buri Ram.

Yesterday, the girl's mother gave further statements to police.

Worapon said police were now co-operating with the Institute of Forensic Medicine to determine whether the girl was killed in Thailand - or outside its territory.

A crime outside Thai territory would fall under the jurisdiction of the Attorney-General.

- The Nation

Surely these animals can be DNA tested and subsequently charged.  These crews are tight knit - like a family - so i would doubt very much if it is not an open secret what went on.

Why would the mother leave that ship without her daughter.  Would you -obviously not!

so so sad

[qualtrough]

The fact that the body was only found a week into the voyage seems to speak against the murder being committed by a crewmember. Surely if a crewmember had done it they would have retrieved the body at some point and tossed it overboard? Sounds to me more likely that it was committed by someone on the ship at the port, who killed her and then hid the body.

[observer21]

The fact that the body was only found a week into the voyage seems to speak against the murder being committed by a crewmember. Surely if a crewmember had done it they would have retrieved the body at some point and tossed it overboard? Sounds to me more likely that it was committed by someone on the ship at the port, who killed her and then hid the body.

NOT NECCESSARILY, THERE ARE ALWAYS OFFICERS ON WATCH, ON THE BRIGE, DURING THE VOYAGE SO IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO JUST GET RID OF THE BODY WITHOUT BEING OBSERVED.  OFFICERS WOULDNT BE PHILIPINOS

[scubasteve]

Hope they find who did this,and let him '''' swing''''',he deserves all he gets.

RIP

[larvidchr]

The fact that the body was only found a week into the voyage seems to speak against the murder being committed by a crewmember. Surely if a crewmember had done it they would have retrieved the body at some point and tossed it overboard? Sounds to me more likely that it was committed by someone on the ship at the port, who killed her and then hid the body.

NOT NECCESSARILY, THERE ARE ALWAYS OFFICERS ON WATCH, ON THE BRIGE, DURING THE VOYAGE SO IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO JUST GET RID OF THE BODY WITHOUT BEING OBSERVED. OFFICERS WOULDNT BE PHILIPINOS

After quite a few years in the merchant navy I can tell you that that is not true, it is quite easy to dump somebody on the blue shelf without anybody knowing, it happens all over the world with regular intervals, that sailors go mysteriously missing in open water.

The overview of especially the aft deck from the bridge is on most ships at best poor, and anyway the officer of the watch would properly be fast a sleep on a boat like that relying on the automatic anti collision radar to wake him up if needed.

Kind regards

Edited June 23, 2007 by larvidchr

[roamer]

I doubt she will ever get justice. 2 notable cases of British girls raped and murdered in Japan showed how reluctant Japanese seem to be in dealing with anything that might reflect badly on them. In the first case it took years of effort by the family, documentaries by TV companies to eventually get a (millionaire) suspect to court. the police found numerous videos of foreign girls being raped and worse by this guy and did nothing about those. His insanity plea has led to speculation that he will soon be "cured" and released. The second case also has a suspect with well connected parents who has disappeared, not easy to do in that society.

So coming back to this tragic case I would doubt if her mother has the means, or the government the desire, to push the Japanese on this one. Hope I'm wrong.

R.I.P.

[Bagwan]

at this time of the year high tide is around midnight, with low tides during the day; so the ship probably sailed at night; perhaps very hard to see what was going on?

You are misinformed. All over the world the tide takes six and a quarter hours to come in, Then there is a period of slack water lasting about half an hour. The tide takes six and a quarter hours to go out followed by another half hour of slack water. Furthermore the variance between high and low water marks depends on whether the sun and moon exert their influence in conjunction or opposing each other. This makes for spring and neap tides. The times and the height of tides may be tabulated and most ocean going ships would have a copy of these tables.

I understand that in the Pacific there is little difference between high and low tide but I know for a fact that the difference at Labuan is ten to twelve feet. The characteristics of the littoral are also a factor. At Pattaya I should think the difference is a mean of about four feet and there is no reason to believe this differs to that of Sri Racha.

[endure]

Surely these animals can be DNA tested and subsequently charged. These crews are tight knit - like a family - so i would doubt very much if it is not an open secret what went on.

Merchant Navy crews are no more tight knit families than any other collection of strangers working in the same confined place.

[Mid]

You are misinformed. All over the world the tide takes six and a quarter hours to come in, Then there is a period of slack water lasting about half an hour. The tide takes six and a quarter hours to go out followed by another half hour of slack water.

Unfortunatuly it's you who are misimformed !!!

Diurnal tide: Only a single high and a single low during each tidal day; successive high and low waters do not vary by a great deal. This tends to occur in certain areas when the moon is at its furthest from the equator.

[soundman]

Whether abducted, a stowaway or otherwise - this thread, after reading the article numerous times before posting, makes me sick to the core.

I will hapily disect the sick individual ('s) responsible for this crime very slowly with a blunt razor blade if the job is being offered.

Absolute tradgedy & I hope ... I don't even know what to say... words fail me.

Soundman.

[Freddie_fly]

You are misinformed. All over the world the tide takes six and a quarter hours to come in, Then there is a period of slack water lasting about half an hour. The tide takes six and a quarter hours to go out followed by another half hour of slack water.

Unfortunatuly it's you who are misimformed !!!

Diurnal tide: Only a single high and a single low during each tidal day; successive high and low waters do not vary by a great deal. This tends to occur in certain areas when the moon is at its furthest from the equator.

Perhaps you are both misinformed... An easy way to settle it would be for you to buy the admiralty tidal charts for the region and discuss the tides on the night in question. While the northern gulf does have a strong Diurnal tidal component, it is not year round.

But its nice to see you moving the topic away from a brutal rape/slaying and onto more measured things, are you both buddhist??

Freddie

[Mid]

and perhaps I was merely providing a cite to support my argument that the poster to whom I addressed my reply was misinformed .

[observer21]

Surely these animals can be DNA tested and subsequently charged. These crews are tight knit - like a family - so i would doubt very much if it is not an open secret what went on.

Merchant Navy crews are no more tight knit families than any other collection of strangers working in the same confined place.

I have worked on over 100 ships crewed by philipinos - and i can tell you you are absoulutley wrong, wrong , and wrong again ( in my humble opinion)

Edited June 24, 2007 by observer21

[endure]

Surely these animals can be DNA tested and subsequently charged. These crews are tight knit - like a family - so i would doubt very much if it is not an open secret what went on.

Merchant Navy crews are no more tight knit families than any other collection of strangers working in the same confined place.

I have worked on over 100 ships crewed by philipinos - and i can tell you you are absoulutley wrong, wrong , and wrong again ( in my humble opinion)

And I've worked on ships crewed by Filipinos, Brits, Barbadians, Indians & Pakistanis. They were all groups of people who appeared to be tight-knit when it suited their purpose but they were no more likely to carry the can for one of their crewmates than any other bunch of strangers thrown together for 6-12 months.

[pop_corn]

But it still doesnt add up. Think of the logistics. She is with the girl on the boat. She finishes work. Where is the girl? Presumably still on the boat. I think we can assume the boat didnt scurry away the minute she got off it . .it could have been hours later.

So how does one explain the apparent contradiction between the report that she lodged a complaint with the police and the fact she was last seen on the boat?

I dunno . i reall dunno.

Im so sorry to tell u, but I think where u are pointing is VERY STUPID. it doesnt really matter how the 14 yrs old girl got into the ship, the fact is that someone kill her. the rest is just gossip and u should respect her soul.

[qualtrough]

I doubt she will ever get justice. 2 notable cases of British girls raped and murdered in Japan showed how reluctant Japanese seem to be in dealing with anything that might reflect badly on them. In the first case it took years of effort by the family, documentaries by TV companies to eventually get a (millionaire) suspect to court. the police found numerous videos of foreign girls being raped and worse by this guy and did nothing about those. His insanity plea has led to speculation that he will soon be "cured" and released. The second case also has a suspect with well connected parents who has disappeared, not easy to do in that society.

So coming back to this tragic case I would doubt if her mother has the means, or the government the desire, to push the Japanese on this one. Hope I'm wrong.

R.I.P.

In this case the suspects are crewmen of non-Japanese origin, so no reason for them to cover anything up. So far it looks like all concerned did the right thing. Someone reported the body to the captain, the captain reported it to authorities, and an autopsy is being conducted.

As I mentioned before, I strongly believe that the fact that the poor girl's body was not tossed overboard by the perpetrator points to the likelihood that the girl was killed in port by someone not part of the ship's crew, and her body then stashed. It would have been pretty easy for a crew member to have tossed the body overboard at some point during the voyage. Why would they leave it there knowing it would eventually be found and that any suspect could be narrowed down to the crew, who could be DNA tested, etc.?

Edited June 24, 2007 by qualtrough

[Scott]

I am not sure, but it is likely that the DNA from the perpetrators may be degraded after being on the boat such a long period of time.

The other point that needs to be made is that she made have had consensual sex with someone and then been raped later. The point is that investigating something like this can be very challenging.

Where I work in the evenings there are often ships docked as it's near the mouth of the Chao Praya. There are some pretty rough looking characters on those boats sometimes. I know the company posts extra guards near the Pier to prevent them from roaming around the factory area.

This isn't meant to slag off ship workers by the way--just an observation at that particular place.

Since some of these guys also don't look highly educated, or likely to be able to defend themselves well, I hope the investigators work hard to find the right culprit.

[sriracha john]

By Thai law standards, a 14 year-old is incapable of having consensual sex. It's rape.

[bendix]

Is the mother still being interviewed by the police? I still can't work out why, when she "noticed the girl was missing" either she or the police didn't go back to the ship when it is obvious that was the last place the little girl was seen by her mother.

You could put it down to police incompetence, but even there the mother would push for some sort of action.

Read into it what you will.

[Scott]

Thai laws may not apply if they find that the girl was killed in international waters. Also the rapist (s) and the murderer (s) are not necessarily the same.

I don't mean to be pedantic, but kidnapping or unlawful detention might apply.

I am not particularly supportive of the mother--who should have been aware of the dangers of having her daughter on the ship--but her daughter may have left the boat and been abducted and brought back. If she her daughter getting off the ship, it might not have occurred to her that she would be on the boat.

[bendix]

I'm not sure how the daughter could have been abducted OFF the boat and brought back, unless she was drugged or silenced in some way.

As for the mother being aware of the dangers . . . . . mmmmm.

[chingching]

Is the mother still being interviewed by the police? I still can't work out why, when she "noticed the girl was missing" either she or the police didn't go back to the ship when it is obvious that was the last place the little girl was seen by her mother.

You could put it down to police incompetence, but even there the mother would push for some sort of action.

Read into it what you will.

In the U.S.A. it is S.O.P. to do nothing with a missing person report for 24 hours, unless there are clearly signs of foul play, or if the person had no means of making themselves "missing". With teenagers there is always the possibility that they ran away, and thus the police will usually do nothing until the person has been missing the 24 hours. Yes of course there will be exceptions to this rule.

[sbk]

Is the mother still being interviewed by the police? I still can't work out why, when she "noticed the girl was missing" either she or the police didn't go back to the ship when it is obvious that was the last place the little girl was seen by her mother.

You could put it down to police incompetence, but even there the mother would push for some sort of action.

Read into it what you will.

I believe the article stated that the mother initially thought her daughter had gone home.

[A_Traveller]

Is the mother still being interviewed by the police? I still can't work out why, when she "noticed the girl was missing" either she or the police didn't go back to the ship when it is obvious that was the last place the little girl was seen by her mother.

You could put it down to police incompetence, but even there the mother would push for some sort of action.

Read into it what you will.

I replied {post 13}

I do however, have this worrying image of the stevedore {mother} trying to have a meaningful conversation whilst the ship is due to sail {on the tide?} and probably being asked questions such as 'Are you sure your daughter didn't wander off the ship?'

One has to factor into this the hierarchy perspective here. One thing does however trouble me, and that is access to a vessel is {usually} tightly controlled, with passes, headcounts etc.. How did the girl get onto the ship without being added to the count and why didn't the failure to reconcile the count trigger a more through response, by the Captain, let alone the police at the time of departure?

The problem here is that there is little data to go on, I can't find the arrival and departure times for the vessel for example. Also are the police at the port {which is private} a separate division? I am chary of making too many comparisons and therefore assumptions about how a port silo operates here, {assumption right there that the ship was being loaded from a silo on the port, not by tender} as opposed to my experiences elsewhere.

Ultimately though the death of a child in such circumstances is tragic and ones thoughts must be for the family.

Regards

[Mid]

One has to factor into this the hierarchy perspective here. One thing does however trouble me, and that is access to a vessel is {usually} tightly controlled, with passes, headcounts etc.. How did the girl get onto the ship without being added to the count and why didn't the failure to reconcile the count trigger a more through response, by the Captain, let alone the police at the time of departure?

your kidding , right ?

step outside of your white skin for a while .

[A_Traveller]

One has to factor into this the hierarchy perspective here. One thing does however trouble me, and that is access to a vessel is {usually} tightly controlled, with passes, headcounts etc.. How did the girl get onto the ship without being added to the count and why didn't the failure to reconcile the count trigger a more through response, by the Captain, let alone the police at the time of departure?

your kidding , right ?

step outside of your white skin for a while.

If you quote me, please do fully. I raised the question myself.

Regards

Edited June 25, 2007 by A_Traveller

[Mid]

Is the mother still being interviewed by the police? I still can't work out why, when she "noticed the girl was missing" either she or the police didn't go back to the ship when it is obvious that was the last place the little girl was seen by her mother.

You could put it down to police incompetence, but even there the mother would push for some sort of action.

Read into it what you will.

I replied {post 13}

I do however, have this worrying image of the stevedore {mother} trying to have a meaningful conversation whilst the ship is due to sail {on the tide?} and probably being asked questions such as 'Are you sure your daughter didn't wander off the ship?'

One has to factor into this the hierarchy perspective here. One thing does however trouble me, and that is access to a vessel is {usually} tightly controlled, with passes, headcounts etc.. How did the girl get onto the ship without being added to the count and why didn't the failure to reconcile the count trigger a more through response, by the Captain, let alone the police at the time of departure?

The problem here is that there is little data to go on, I can't find the arrival and departure times for the vessel for example. Also are the police at the port {which is private} a separate division? I am chary of making too many comparisons and therefore assumptions about how a port silo operates here, {assumption right there that the ship was being loaded from a silo on the port, not by tender} as opposed to my experiences elsewhere.

Ultimately though the death of a child in such circumstances is tragic and ones thoughts must be for the family.

Regards

One has to factor into this the hierarchy perspective here. One thing does however trouble me, and that is access to a vessel is {usually} tightly controlled, with passes, headcounts etc.. How did the girl get onto the ship without being added to the count and why didn't the failure to reconcile the count trigger a more through response, by the Captain, let alone the police at the time of departure?

your kidding , right ?

step outside of your white skin for a while .

[steveromagnino]

[Perhaps you are both misinformed... An easy way to settle it would be for you to buy the admiralty tidal charts for the region and discuss the tides on the night in question.

Yes I am a Buddhist. Yes I am on the water around this area most weekends. Yes i need to know the tides. Yes two members of my family are involved with a little race in Valencia and have explained to me the basics of current and wind prediction for racing tactics.

So I can say with certainty, at this time of year Thailand east coast has a single tide, not a double tide every 24 hours.

http://www.mobilegeographics.com:81/locations/5647.html

LIke I said, high tide is about midnight at this time of year, and low tide is about midday in mid June; gradually starts to shift earlier later in the month (i.e. now).

I realise that you may not know much about the tides here if you are from the UK or somewhere else; if you are an englishman, then presumably you are used to seeing two very big tides per day; it was an eye opener for me (although obviously I am not from the UK, and don't even think about implying that i am :-) and I can recall a couple of times that I got fooled by the extremely odd tide flows; it doesn't come in and out at the same rate and sometimes has a fall to a level, then stable, then the tide starts going out again an hour later. Extremely odd. Something to do with the Moon, the sun position and shape of the gulf I think. Around Japan and northern CHina/Korea also has a single tide per day AFAIK. AFAIK the single high tide is called a Diurnal tide, and the odd stepped tide in and out is called a mixed tide. The more usual away from equator tides (2 per day) are a Semidiurnal tide.

Mostly, though, I blame Mid and his dodgy chilli curries; his own personal effluent has affected the whole gulf of Thailand.

Common myth about tides is that the full moon causes higher tides. Obviously the full moon is merely a reflection so it isn't being full that causes big tides; rather it is that the moon and sun are aligned, and the sun causes about 30% of the gravational pull for tides. There is some very trick maths regarding the physics of the oval shape of the moon's orbit and why the high tide points are not at the closest point to the moon, but rather above and below; far beyond my skills to explain it, I'll just stick with downloading tide charts :-)

Now, back to 14 year old; I think the Japanese would be forthcoming with info if they have it; the ship is merely in a Japanese port, but the crew and the boat itself AFAIK are not. I've heard too many stories about what sailors get up to in port and too many stories about trips from Isaan to work in areas like Sri Racha to guess as to what might have taken place.

Dear god, my thoughts are with that poor little child.