Rape Of Aussie Tourist

[john b good]

As SBK say's,wonder if any punishment will be dished out too this low-life. Let's hope it goes the same way as the fisherman,that raped on Lamai beach,they were put too death,hopefully this scumbag is as well.

I thought that these two escaped the death penalty

[farangmal]

There is probably only one positive to come out of this latest incident and that is that the victim wasn't murdered.

I remember 5 years ago being told by many Thais that Thailand had changed and that it was now very dangerous.

At that time the violence hadn't spread to the tourist areas which are now feeling the impact of the overall rise in the level of violence.

There have been many people especially expats who have been in denial about this but given the current crop of incidents even the deniers must be having second thoughts about the long term security of foreigners in Thailand.

I suppose She escaped with her life is a little bit of compensation...but not much. She has to live with what happened and will mentally scar her for the rest of her life. Poor girl.

Last year a Policeman stopped my Wife in the street and asked her to put a gold necklace in her pocket. He told her that Pattaya has got very bad. He knows better than most.

It's a pity that these scumbags are tainting Thailands reputation. But I still say that pretty attractive Foreign Women are not safe alone in Thailand.

Maybe next Century if it drags itself out of the dark ages and frowns upong it''s Males using cave man type behaviour towards Females...I'm not holding my breath waiting for this to happen though!

[snoophound]

Tragic I know and good the guy was caught

Tourists do need to be made aware its dangerous late at night.

You tend to assume tooo much as a first timer in samui or bali for that matter.

They wouldnt do it at home

Same anywhere.

Thai Tourist police. What a joke.

How many of you people in your home country have a tourist police?

I believe they are supposed to speak english..

Few times I have talked with them, (same lady I suppose) she was very fluent. I still believe she's the only one at the desk though.

[Pegasus]

My wife was raped in Lamai 2 years ago.

[LivinLOS]

Once again the 'dont worry be happy' crowd try to stifle how things actually play out in 'amazing Thailand'..

It bothers me more the ostrich head in the sand mentality as much as the fact of how life here is..

[tijnebijn]

Once again the 'dont worry be happy' crowd try to stifle how things actually play out in 'amazing Thailand'..

It bothers me more the ostrich head in the sand mentality as much as the fact of how life here is..

Its not only here , all these things could happen anywhere anytime .

But saying Thailand do not have such things are ostriches indeed ,

one should always be aware and be careful , and still then one could

be at the wrong place at the wrong time .

To learn self defence , man and woman , could help out a lot , at least

you learn what you should do so you have time too run .

[Flhai]

I was just reading this thread and noticed how many board members jumped on the OP for posting before hard facts arrived. Is that the policy here? If so I think we better take out 95% of all posts on the board because 100% fact is a pretty rare commodity on all forums. We also better tell the worlds news agencies that they can't report without fact. Would mean fox news would only broadcast for 5 minutes a day!

So many of you board members should get off your high horse and let things flow a little. Information like this is serious and the faster that it gets to the public the better even if the fact are not yet clear. So much more of these kinds of crimes get committed in the Thailand then most would even estimate. I have knowledge of several cases that didn't get within miles of any kind of public forum or media outlet. If I was involved at the time I would have posted even if my information was second hand. If you have information be it hearsay or not however you believe it to be true.... post it! It will all come out in the wash anyway and if you are honest with what you believe to be true then you may be doing a service to tourists and expats alike to avoid future incidents or make some small changes if that is possible in AMAZING Thailand at the moment.

Edited March 30, 2008 by Flhai

[sibeymai]

.....She has to live with what happened and will mentally scar her for the rest of her life.......

Really ? And where did you pick up that piece of wisdom from ? A "one size fits all" psychology seminar ?

The girl will no doubt recover enough from the ordeal to go on and lead a nearly if not normal life, with some understanding and compassion from those close enough for her to trust.

What she doesn't need is complete strangers telling her over and over again that she is "scarred for life". How she will be affected, if at all, over the long term is a function of many factors and is different in every case. Being classified as scarred for life could well have worse long term affects than the actual rape itself.

Well it would be if people would think before they utter such damaging cliches. There are many others which have similar effect but in my view this is one of the worst by infering that the person will never recover or may be a mental case or in therapy for the rest of their life. This girl could well come to believe that her "scar" is visible to all and require years of therapy to overcome. Why encourage this to happen by making such thoughtless remarks ?

Victims just want to get on with their lives without being unnecessarily reminded of the ordeal. If you want to comment, think about whether what you're saying is branding the person as a rape victim and thereby prolonging their ordeal, or whether you're contributing to their return to a normal life.

Only my opinion, based on experience.

[Scott]

In this case, we have a true victim. She was in her room, it was the wee morning hours. She was attacked. When we rent a room at a resort, a bungalow, a guesthouse, there is a certain amount of security that we expect to have. This is generally provided by the owner of the resort or hotel. It's bad for their business if people suffer criminal misfortune.

I've stayed in many bungalows at beaches (years ago), which seemed less than safe, but was assured by the resort owner they had guards and it would be safe. I was always encouraged to not leave valuables in the room. I felt safe and slept well.

There is absolutely nothing this lady did wrong. Once in your room with the door secured, you expect to be left alone.

I doubt the guy was a robber. Robbers prefer to rob vacant rooms. Even if he found a lady, few men would instantly jump to the "I think I'll rape her" idea.

Wishing her a speedy recovery from the ordeal.

[WISteve]

My heart goes out to the victim of this horrible crime.

I hope her and her family are receiving the best in care and counseling.

Crime in Thailand is not just in the tourist areas and big cities by any means. Rural Isaan is just as bad or worse. The teelack is 28, fit and very athletic but she is too frightened to drive the 10 klicks between the village and the nearby market town on her motorbike alone anymore. Even during daylight hours she always has family or friends ride with her. "Kamoy (thieves) too much" these days for her comfort. If I am driving the car after dark she always warns me never to stop for an accident or someone laying in the road. Life is cheap and robbery, assaults or murder aren't so uncommon anymore.

It seems "civilization" is finding it's way to Thailand all too quickly......

~WISteve

[Flhai]

In this case, we have a true victim. She was in her room, it was the wee morning hours. She was attacked. When we rent a room at a resort, a bungalow, a guesthouse, there is a certain amount of security that we expect to have. This is generally provided by the owner of the resort or hotel. It's bad for their business if people suffer criminal misfortune.

I've stayed in many bungalows at beaches (years ago), which seemed less than safe, but was assured by the resort owner they had guards and it would be safe. I was always encouraged to not leave valuables in the room. I felt safe and slept well.

There is absolutely nothing this lady did wrong. Once in your room with the door secured, you expect to be left alone.

I doubt the guy was a robber. Robbers prefer to rob vacant rooms. Even if he found a lady, few men would instantly jump to the "I think I'll rape her" idea.

Wishing her a speedy recovery from the ordeal.

Are you saying she was a “true victim” because she had gone to the trouble of providing a secure sleeping environment and therefore a woman that didn’t afford herself such security and consequently was rapped would not be a “true victim” of crime? I hope this is not what you mean but your post seems to stipulate this and there seems to be a lot of woman have it coming attitude floating around on here. The fact is no matter where a woman is and what she wears UN consensual sex is wrong. Yes it is prudent for woman to take care of their own safety and not take unnecessary risks but RAPE IS RAPE!

Edited March 30, 2008 by Flhai

[LaoPo]

........ but was assured by the resort owner they had guards and it would be safe. I was always encouraged to not leave valuables in the room. I felt safe and slept well.

Having security guards around doesn't mean a thing. After a robbery the owners of the resort put guards in place. Policemen ! Off duty..

I caught them sleeping every single night. I complained and to my relieve they sent a new one.

The same night I caught him, sleeping.....a few meters away on the veranda of the house next to us.............11.00PM until the wee hours of the morning

Security...yeah right.

just an example; 'my' guard was sleeping on an outside daybed.....

LaoPo

[Ijustwannateach]

^I don't think Scott is implying anything about the victim, but trying to communicate the truth through the barrier of some very thick bone.

I have deleted several messages which were prompted by an attempt to assign responsibility to rape victims in general for the crimes committed against them on the basis of their nationality, dress code, etc. As in the recent Swedish thread, I have deleted them, and I now informally institute a policy: those who raise the boneheaded spectre of a rape victim even possibly being responsible for his/her rape based on his/her race, nationality, dress code, etc. without some solid documentary evidence (i.e., a newslink) that such is the case, will in the future be summarily warned (by me, at least) and the posts resulting from their posts deleted. This is a female-friendly forum.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

"S"

[LaoPo]

^I don't think Scott is implying anything about the victim, but trying to communicate the truth through the barrier of some very thick bone.

I have deleted several messages which were prompted by an attempt to assign responsibility to rape victims in general for the crimes committed against them on the basis of their nationality, dress code, etc. As in the recent Swedish thread, I have deleted them, and I now informally institute a policy:

those who raise the boneheaded spectre of a rape victim even possibly being responsible for his/her rape based on his/her race, nationality, dress code, etc. without some solid documentary evidence (i.e., a newslink) that such is the case, will in the future be summarily warned (by me, at least) and the posts resulting from their posts deleted. This is a female-friendly forum.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

"S"

It's weird that it's mostly men who post messages, saying that a Lady/Girl/Woman-victim 'could be' responsible, being raped.

Maybe they would talk different when they're raped themselves, by a very big monster-guy....

Sometimes I wish ".........." well better not said here...

LaoPo

[dumball]

Thai Tourist police. What a joke.

How many of you people in your home country have a tourist police?

We do not have tourist police , the regular police force do thier job 24/7 for whom ever you may be , pick up the telephone and you can be spoken to in any one of 24 languages 24/7 , and there is NO TEA MONEY !!!!

[Scott]

No, I am not implying that other people aren't 'true' victims. I am saying that, in this case, the forensic diagnosis that usually starts to lead toward somehow invoking the "she asked for it", to one degree or another really can't apply here. It shouldn't in other cases either. Anyone who goes to their room, locks their door and goes to sleep is truely a victim of a crime.

Sorry if some people got the wrong impression. It's just disheartening when, in some threads, there is such a finger pointing at the victim. In this case, it's pretty hard to do that.

[stanley2550]

Having the police walking a beat is a great idea in all those areas. I don't know why the Thai authorities haven't figured that out. It certainly makes sense. Perhaps they should hand out those little high pressure cans of mace to the ladies along with those whistles. Of course a G26 (Glock) subcompact pistola would work much better than a whistle.

[Ijustwannateach]

^^Doesn't stop some from trying!

[farangmal]

.....She has to live with what happened and will mentally scar her for the rest of her life.......

Really ? And where did you pick up that piece of wisdom from ? A "one size fits all" psychology seminar ?

The girl will no doubt recover enough from the ordeal to go on and lead a nearly if not normal life, with some understanding and compassion from those close enough for her to trust.

What she doesn't need is complete strangers telling her over and over again that she is "scarred for life". How she will be affected, if at all, over the long term is a function of many factors and is different in every case. Being classified as scarred for life could well have worse long term affects than the actual rape itself.

Well it would be if people would think before they utter such damaging cliches. There are many others which have similar effect but in my view this is one of the worst by infering that the person will never recover or may be a mental case or in therapy for the rest of their life. This girl could well come to believe that her "scar" is visible to all and require years of therapy to overcome. Why encourage this to happen by making such thoughtless remarks ?

Victims just want to get on with their lives without being unnecessarily reminded of the ordeal. If you want to comment, think about whether what you're saying is branding the person as a rape victim and thereby prolonging their ordeal, or whether you're contributing to their return to a normal life.

Only my opinion, based on experience.

What a drama Queen..or King!

Maybe she will send the rapist a birthday card and a forget you not with red roses

Of course she will have that terrible experience in her head always. How could her life ever be the same.

Yes she will get on with her life but what's the betting she doesn't go back to Thailand and finds it hard EVER to trust Males.

Edited March 30, 2008 by farangmal

[tonyrx7]

Any crimes in Thailand also happen in most other countries. Maybe everybody should stay away and boycott Thailand for a year to make it hurt where it counts so to remind them how much their economy are dependent of tourism. For some reason I feel safer being there then in my own country.

[robinsamui]

As SBK say's,wonder if any punishment will be dished out too this low-life. Let's hope it goes the same way as the fisherman,that raped on Lamai beach,they were put too death,hopefully this scumbag is as well.

I think their sentence was commuted to lofe

[sbk]

Off-topic, insensitive and trollish posts have been deleted. Further such posts in this thread will result in a formal warning.

[terryp]

Horrific Terrible Crime against anyone Male or Female ...sadly police & the legal system in Thailand leave much to be desired

I hope they don't require the lady travels back to Thailand to seal a prosecution in 6-12 months as is normally the case

[Sheryl]

It's weird that it's mostly men who post messages, saying that a Lady/Girl/Woman-victim 'could be' responsible, being raped.

Maybe they would talk different when they're raped themselves, by a very big monster-guy....

Sometimes I wish ".........." well better not said here...

LaoPo

Not mostly...only.

Such thinking is only possible for those who have never experienced life as a female (and are rather unobservant -- not to mention lacking in empathy -- to boot!).

Part of being female is knowing that no matter how you act or dress, you may be sexually assaulted simply because you are a woman. Sad but true. Of course, one takes what precautions one can, but like all of life's dangers you can only reduce risks somewhat, not elimniate them...and there are also trade offs in terms of quality of life. Never, ever, ever going anyplace alone probably would make you safer but what kind of life is that?

Never,ever riding in or driving a vehicle will ensure you don't get in a traffic accident, yet we don't hear anyone saying that people should stay home or else "expect" to be killed by a drunk driver.

[torrenova]

So how did he target the victim ? Was it just a bit of robbery but once again the Thai bloke couldn't resist the girl ? Will we ever get a Thai bloke on here to explain why they do this and why rape of their own kind, often within the extended family is so prevalent and presumably the punishment so little that it acts as no deterrent. Perhaps then we can understand why raping foreigners is so widespread.

Poor girl, I hope they put him down.

[sbk]

Well, nice thought torrenova, and I agree with you that the punishment tends to be minimal, but men rape in the Western world as well. Unfortunately, such behavior is not limited to Thailand or Thai men. The difference being, I think, that in the West it is now a crime that is actually taken seriously. For many years, the prevalent attitude among police was similar to here, that somehow the girl was asking for it. Its only been in the past 20 years or so that this attitude has shifted.

I only hope for the sake of all women in this country the Thai police also have such a shift in attitudes towards this crime. I think, when these men learn that it is not so easy to get away with it, that perhaps it will slow the rate down. Who knows, maybe not, but when society and the police both somehow look to blame the victim in these kinds of crimes, then it is no wonder it is such a huge problem.

[Ijustwannateach]

I don't know how to make it any clearer, but ANY posts that veer in the direction, however so slightly, of "well, maybe her shirt was too tight or maybe she was wearing a bikini or maybe she wasn't culturally sensitive or maybe she took a sunbath or maybe she was just too pretty or maybe it was her fault because she didn't have the sense to have a crowd of stormtrooper bodyguards with her"....

WILL earn warnings, and from this point in this particular thread also posting holidays.

"S"

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I don't know how to make it any clearer, but ANY posts that veer in the direction, however so slightly, of "well, maybe her shirt was too tight or maybe she was wearing a bikini or maybe she wasn't culturally sensitive or maybe she took a sunbath or maybe she was just too pretty or maybe it was her fault because she didn't have the sense to have a crowd of stormtrooper bodyguards with her"....

WILL earn warnings, and from this point in this particular thread also posting holidays.

"S"

[sbk]

This woman was raped in her room at night. Assigning blame onto the victim in this case is ridiculous.

The fact is that women who put themselves into risky situations need to be aware that 1) those situations are risky --many tourists in Thailand assume that, since it promotes itself as a world class beach destination, that it is safe for women on the beach. and 2) cultural norms of behavior can increase ones risk of assault. Are these women aware of these facts? I don't know but are the men who find themselves ripped off by their girlfriends aware of the attitudes of many Thai girls that farang are there to be fleeced? Is it then the man's fault because he should have known better?

I find it interesting that so many posters are ignoring the facts of this particular case in order to make their arguments. It seems to me, that it doesn't necessarily matter what a girl is wearing or where she is at in order for her to be the target of a rapist. And this is the idea that many posters seem to fail to grasp.

[Krungthepian]

The alleged rapist reportedly pleaded guilty in court to theft (of the victim's mobile phone, and other items, I suspect). But he allegedly denied rape. The case was heard at Samui district court last Friday 28 March, I think. Victim was able to testify, and return to Oz. Police reportedly found a number of stolen goods at his home, incl motorbikes; was a serious kamoy, I'm told. Not sure if he's got bail.