Van Driver Assaults Female Thai Passenger

[webfact]

Van driver assaults female passenger

By The Nation

Pavena Hongsakul

NONTHABURI: -- Police are searching for a van driver who beat a lone woman passenger after attempting to rap_e her on Sunday night.

Thanyalak Chumming can now testify to Khlong Khoy police in Nonthaburi's Pak Kret district even though she still suffers from head injuries sustained in the attack with a metal pipe.

Police are interviewing her further to compose a sketch of the suspect, thought to be 35-40 years old. No further details about his appearance were immediately available.

Thanyalak's injuries include brain haemorrhaging, abrasions all over her arms and legs and swollen eyelids from being punched in the face.

Activist Pavena Hongsakul, who brought the case to the public's attention following a complaint from the victim's mother, said immediate police action was needed, because this sort of assault was regarded as highly dangerous and detrimental to women travelling alone.

The victim said she took a bus from Zeer Mall in Pathum Thani's Rangsit area to Central Lat Phrao.

When she was left alone after all of the other passengers got off, the driver threatened to hurt her unless she sat next to him in the front seat.

She managed to call a friend before moving up front, then grabbed the steering wheel during a fight after the driver molested her. The van missed a turn, causing the driver to become angry and start hitting her with the pipe.

After the victim lost consciousness, the driver stopped, dragged her to a pond and tried to drown her by forcing her head under water.

The driver stopped after she played dead. She later crawled for help and asked her rescuers to call the same friend, since the driver had taken her wallet and mobile phone.

-- The Nation 2010-05-12

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[whistleblower]

And as they say....'Thais love Thais!

[landofthefree]

And as they say....'Thais love Thais!

He sounds like a brave man beating up a girl with a metal and then trying to drown her! He must be very traceable driving a van along that stretch of road brings the list of supects down to only a few. I used to go in the same vans on the same routes and often had the same drivers. I just hope the BIB are interested enough to follow it up. He should be easy to catch. Hope she gets better quickly and that this menace to society is removed.

[tonywebster]

Why does it take an activist to have to bring this to the public's attention, surely all women should be warned and try to avoid being alone in these vans at least until this guy is caught. (even then it is safer if they are not alone in these vehicles).

[tonywebster]

Why does it take an activist to have to bring this to the public's attention, surely all women should be warned and try to avoid being alone in these vans at least until this guy is caught. (even then it is safer if they are not alone in these vehicles).

Why not have women drivers???? Or maybe arrange with escort service??

Then the women drivers will be at risk from male passengers

[Thailand]

Why does it take an activist to have to bring this to the public's attention, surely all women should be warned and try to avoid being alone in these vans at least until this guy is caught. (even then it is safer if they are not alone in these vehicles).

Why not have women drivers???? Or maybe arrange with escort service??

This woman was nearly raped and murdered and this is the sort of comment you think is funny?

[TheLaughingMan]

Basically all women are at risk from men in this country at all times. Rape is rampant here. Try reporting it and the police make you feel worse or victimise you themselves.

[animatic]

Why does it take an activist to have to bring this to the public's attention, surely all women should be warned and try to avoid being alone in these vans at least until this guy is caught. (even then it is safer if they are not alone in these vehicles).

Why not have women drivers???? Or maybe arrange with escort service??

Then the women drivers will be at risk from male passengers

Exactly.

[Elwood62]

not just thailand peoples. every country is as bad if not worse. its a blight on our society that men feel they have the right to treat women this way.......

[scorecard]

Why does it take an activist to have to bring this to the public's attention, surely all women should be warned and try to avoid being alone in these vans at least until this guy is caught. (even then it is safer if they are not alone in these vehicles).

Why not have women drivers???? Or maybe arrange with escort service??

Then the women drivers will be at risk from male passengers

Exactly.

This is disgraceful from the point of view that it happened and (as already said) that it takes an activist to bring it to the attention of the police and the media. I offer my best wishes to the lady concerned for a speedy and full recovery.

Right now there is much discussion of media reform. I wonder if we see the need for one area of media reform right before our eyes:

- Automatic reporting of such incidents so that the public is well informed.

- Follow up of such cases so that the public knows whether the assailant has been caught and what punishment has been handed down, and so that the public knows the police are doing something. But sadly, I guess we will continue to see the same quality of reporting from both the Nation and BP. Follow up is simply not in their tasks.

The sad reality is that attacks on women in taxis , vans, etc., are so common that many families ban their wives / daughters from using this type of service at night time, some even in the daytime. I know, my son won't allow his wife (a teacher) to travel alone in a taxi (and she would refuse to anyway) and if she travels after dark then the school provides internal transport to her door - because they know it's just too dangerous. Why haven't the authorities taken some action years ago? Why is there no check to ensure that public transport drivers are more suitable? Why...

[rkidlad]

not just thailand peoples. every country is as bad if not worse. its a blight on our society that men feel they have the right to treat women this way.......

Yea, but the point is in my country rape is deemed as a very serious crime (so it should be)

In Thailand it's not taken anywhere near as seriously.

[spud1]

And as they say....'Thais love Thais!

He sounds like a brave man beating up a girl with a metal and then trying to drown her! He must be very traceable driving a van along that stretch of road brings the list of supects down to only a few. I used to go in the same vans on the same routes and often had the same drivers. I just hope the BIB are interested enough to follow it up. He should be easy to catch. Hope she gets better quickly and that this menace to society is removed.

Thai men are the biggest shit houses in existence.Recently my GF and her sister had a confrontation with a so called "male" neighbour.Even though the coward was

arguing with a couple of petite females he still pulled out a knife.I only hope they catch and castrate the scumbag.

[ozzieman05]

She was in a van with other people who left the van

she had no control of the situation and was not to know she would be left alone before reaching her distination

all the police ned to do is contact the company running the service and find out who was driving this route at this time

[Sisaketmike]

Basically all women are at risk from men in this country at all times. Rape is rampant here. Try reporting it and the police make you feel worse or victimise you themselves.

I'm actually surprised about some posts her. Somebody was actually trying to kill her. She was clever enough to survive. Would you use the same words if that was your wife???

We wish her a speedy recovery and they'll hopefully find this guy soon.

Edited May 12, 2010 by Sisaketmike

[tonititan]

Basically all women are at risk from men in this country at all times. Rape is rampant here. Try reporting it and the police make you feel worse or victimise you themselves.

I'm actually surprised about some posts her. Somebody was actually trying to kill her. She was clever enough to survive. Would you use the same words if that was your wife???

We wish her a speedy recovery and they'll hopefully find this guy soon.

I think maybe you misunderstood the comment. I believe that he poster was disgusted by what happened, and would feel the same way if it was his wife. I think he was saying that it's horrible that even if you report a rape, the police make you feel bad about it or don't take the complaint seriously...which I fully believe is true.

[Motoon]

Why does it take an activist to have to bring this to the public's attention, surely all women should be warned and try to avoid being alone in these vans at least until this guy is caught. (even then it is safer if they are not alone in these vehicles).

Thought the same but it is probably to avoid neglected handling of the case. The boys in brown tend to get a bit lax if there's no money to be made. On another note, there is a frightening increase in these kind of crimes. Thai papers are full of reports of rogue taxi drivers/rapist.

[givenall]

And as they say....'Thais love Thais!

Most of Thai gals I know or meet hate Thai guys. One of the reason you see many gals live with another gal is because they say Thai guys have lack sense of responsibility to their gals or wives

[jamesjdaly]

I'm glad that some posters can make jokes about these things. Personally, I don't see anything humourous whatsoever in this story. Poor girl went through hel_l. I hope they string the bastard up and cut his balls off.

[gotte]

Why does it take an activist to have to bring this to the public's attention, surely all women should be warned and try to avoid being alone in these vans at least until this guy is caught. (even then it is safer if they are not alone in these vehicles).

Why not have women drivers???? Or maybe arrange with escort service??

This woman was nearly raped and murdered and this is the sort of comment you think is funny?

Not that kind of Escort!!!! The one that is for safety!!!!

[old wanderer]

This is the kind of crime that call out for some vigilante justice. I know a few women that are truly tough. They would have gelded this stud and left his privates stapled on a telephone pole.

Sometimes this is the best kind of justice.

However it is universally hated by law enforcement .

[jamesjdaly]

Not that kind of Escort!!!! The one that is for safety!!!!

Stop trying to wriggle out of your comment

[hardy1943]

And as they say....'Thais love Thais!

He sounds like a brave man beating up a girl with a metal and then trying to drown her! He must be very traceable driving a van along that stretch of road brings the list of supects down to only a few. I used to go in the same vans on the same routes and often had the same drivers. I just hope the BIB are interested enough to follow it up. He should be easy to catch. Hope she gets better quickly and that this menace to society is removed.

Thai men are the biggest shit houses in existence.Recently my GF and her sister had a confrontation with a so called "male" neighbour.Even though the coward was

arguing with a couple of petite females he still pulled out a knife.I only hope they catch and castrate the scumbag.

They won't do nothing to that scumbag.They all belong to the same boys club here.Watch the violence against women on TV,it is fine to hit her in the mouth and knock her teeth out but do not show any one smoking.

Edited May 12, 2010 by hardy1943

[BigWheelMan]

And as they say....'Thais love Thais!

A classic real dumb idiotic comment.

Obviously the bus driver is a maniac and this poor woman was at the receiving end of it`s brutality.

She probably will never make a full recovery, physically or mentally.

I would call this much more than an assault, this is attempted brutal murder.

My sympathy to this lady and hope they catch this vermin. Should be put down like a mad dog.

Edited May 12, 2010 by BigWheelMan

[Sisaketmike]

And as they say....'Thais love Thais!

He sounds like a brave man beating up a girl with a metal and then trying to drown her! He must be very traceable driving a van along that stretch of road brings the list of supects down to only a few. I used to go in the same vans on the same routes and often had the same drivers. I just hope the BIB are interested enough to follow it up. He should be easy to catch. Hope she gets better quickly and that this menace to society is removed.

Thai men are the biggest shit houses in existence.Recently my GF and her sister had a confrontation with a so called "male" neighbour.Even though the coward was

arguing with a couple of petite females he still pulled out a knife.I only hope they catch and castrate the scumbag.

When you're using Thai men you're doing the same mistake what Thais are saying about some foreigners who do something very bad in their country. Don't you think that <deleted> are everywhere?

[Sisaketmike]

Basically all women are at risk from men in this country at all times. Rape is rampant here. Try reporting it and the police make you feel worse or victimise you themselves.

I'm actually surprised about some posts her. Somebody was actually trying to kill her. She was clever enough to survive. Would you use the same words if that was your wife???

We wish her a speedy recovery and they'll hopefully find this guy soon.

I think maybe you misunderstood the comment. I believe that he poster was disgusted by what happened, and would feel the same way if it was his wife. I think he was saying that it's horrible that even if you report a rape, the police make you feel bad about it or don't take the complaint seriously...which I fully believe is true.

Sorry wasn't about you, just the disgusting posts......

Edited May 12, 2010 by Sisaketmike

[Sisaketmike]

And as they say....'Thais love Thais!

He sounds like a brave man beating up a girl with a metal and then trying to drown her! He must be very traceable driving a van along that stretch of road brings the list of supects down to only a few. I used to go in the same vans on the same routes and often had the same drivers. I just hope the BIB are interested enough to follow it up. He should be easy to catch. Hope she gets better quickly and that this menace to society is removed.

Thai men are the biggest shit houses in existence.Recently my GF and her sister had a confrontation with a so called "male" neighbour.Even though the coward was

arguing with a couple of petite females he still pulled out a knife.I only hope they catch and castrate the scumbag.

They won't do nothing to that scumbag.They all belong to the same boys club here.Watch the violence against women on TV,it is fine to hit her in the mouth and knock her teeth out but do not show any one smoking.

They will do something to that scumbag....... "They all"?????? How can you write such a post? I've got nice people in my Thai family, good friends and they'd never do that. Go and watch TV....can't take you seriously.

Edited May 12, 2010 by Sisaketmike

[TheCowboyKid]

Let's see if I can win this game.

It is terrible that all men in the world act like this and that especially Thai men and the Thai police only laugh and giggle and tell women to shut up every time that this happens...always. All men should be castrated. I am going to volunteer to castrate myself first because I am a man and will eventually rape someone. The entire world needs to realize that this is the worst crime ever possible. Women and children and one-legged puppies are mistreated everywhere in the world and no one ever does anything about it...especially Thailand. Something, something, something, culture, fairness, terrible, corruption, red shirts. What if it was your mother/sister/grandmother/aunt/best friend's mother?

I really hope that she recovers soon.

There. Beat that for being the most politically correct sensitive compassionate caring man in the world.

Edited May 12, 2010 by TheCowboyKid

[jamesjdaly]

Jesus!! Who let you out?

[astral]

First it is a van, then it is a bus????????

With this level of information collecting, does the poor woman stand any chance of the guy being caught?

[Tokay]

I know of a girl who's friend was getting raped in Pattaya. One girl escaped the room to call the police. The police told her something along the lines of, "how do we know this will still be going on when we get there?" And they never came. Not even after multiple calls.

The Thai police SICKEN me on how they deal with rape.

The worst part is when they test the victim immediately after she was raped for HIV. No test in the world will detect the virus that quickly. Even with a PCR-DNA test there is a 14 - 30 day window. The standard ELISA test can take 3 - 6 months! Yet these dummies test (sometimes - if at all) immediately as if they are going to know something. "Nope, you didn't catch HIV. Good luck for you."