Woman Found Unconscious, Half-Naked On Phuket Roadside

[webfact]

Woman found unconscious, half-naked on Phuket roadside

The victim’s motorbike, which was found parked at the scene.

Photo by Wichai Witthawat.

PHUKET: -- An unconscious woman was found yesterday morning on a Phuket roadside, naked from the waist down with blood pouring from her head.

The 58-year-old, whose name is undisclosed, may have been raped, Thalang Police Lt Col Weerayut Sittirattanakul said.

At about 5am yesterday morning, Thalang Police received a report of a woman lying unconscious near a parked motorbike on the side of Srisoonthorn Road, about 3km west of the Heroines’ Monument.

Local residents said they had earlier heard an “accident” and came out to see what had happened, Lt Col Weerayut said.

“They saw one man lying unconscious on the side of the road. Another man, who [witnesses said] seemed to be drunk, was fighting with the woman. The witnesses then went back into their houses,” he said.

“Later they found her lying unconscious and called the police.”

The two men were more than 30 years old, witnesses said.

The woman had a deep wound to her right eyebrow and bruising between her chest and stomach.

“It’s not clear whether she got these wounds from a motorbike accident or if someone hit her with a blunt object,” Lt Col Weerayut said.

Police will await a doctor’s report to see if the victim had also been raped, he added.

The woman may have had an accident with another motorbike and then got into a fight or was robbed, Lt Col Weerayut said.

The woman lived in nearby Bang Jo and went to the Tha Reua Market via Srisoonthorn Road everyday, Lt Col Weerayut said.

“This stretch of road is quite curvy and there are always accidents and robberies here, so we plan to put a police box in the area,” he said.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-02-25

[JetsetBkk]

"The witnesses then went back into their houses"

Nice.

[krading]

“This stretch of road is quite curvy and there are always accidents and robberies here, so we plan to put a police box in the area,” he said.

I hope they also plan to put a policeman in the box.

[amyb]

i came upon this on my way to work--around 7 a.m.--there was a guy laying in the ditch, not a woman...but the story was that the woman was raped, and the guy in the ditch was then beat up by onlookers. have no idea, since all of those onlookers went back into their houses. idiots!

[Tokay]

i came upon this on my way to work--around 7 a.m.--there was a guy laying in the ditch, not a woman...but the story was that the woman was raped, and the guy in the ditch was then beat up by onlookers. have no idea, since all of those onlookers went back into their houses. idiots!

You can bet your bum if the guy in the ditch was a falang, not a single person would have gone back inside. It would have been a community effort to relieve him of as much of his cash as possible.

[thaiwanderer]

i came upon this on my way to work--around 7 a.m.--there was a guy laying in the ditch, not a woman...but the story was that the woman was raped, and the guy in the ditch was then beat up by onlookers. have no idea, since all of those onlookers went back into their houses. idiots!

You can bet your bum if the guy in the ditch was a falang, not a single person would have gone back inside. It would have been a community effort to relieve him of as much of his cash as possible.

Nice level headed response tehre but actually incorrect as that would involve gambling

[webfact]

Phuket road rape victim still in ICU

The victim’s bloody helmet, which was recovered at the scene of the crime.

PHUKET: -- Police are still searching for the two suspects wanted for the brutal roadside assault of a Phuket woman last week.

The victim, 58, was set upon by two men just before dawn Thursday morning as she rode her motorbike to a local market.

She was left unconscious by the roadside with blood running from a wound to her head, and she was clad below the waist only in her underwear, which had been pulled off one leg.

Police confirm that she may have been raped.

Thalang police Lt Col Weerayut Sittirattanakul told the Phuket Gazette that the woman’s condition was so severe that she remains in the ICU at Vachira Phuket Hospital more than a week later.

“She is now conscious and remembers her children, but she hasn’t been able to give any information [on the attack] yet as she is still breathing through a respirator and being fed intravenously,” he said.

“We know only that there were two men at the scene, one fat and one thin. We are looking for a black Honda Click motorbike that was probably used by the men,” he said.

Witnesses told police they were unable to make out the license plate number of the bike because the area where the assault took place was too dark.

Police earlier quoted witnesses as saying they thought they heard an accident and went out to investigate and saw two men, but then went back inside their homes.

The one streetlight that usually illuminated the area was broken the same day as the attack, Lt Col Weerayut said.

Police hope that DNA samples taken from the scene will help track down the suspects and bring them to justice.

“We are still awaiting the DNA test results and hope to match them to one of the suspects,” he said.

Police have reviewed CCTV images of the victim before the attack, which took place before 6am.

One CCTV image showed her riding past the Heroines’ Monument at precisely 5:43am.

Police think they also have images of the attackers, but say the images are dark and unclear.

Police also suspect that the pair may have been under the influence of drugs.

“We questioned the victim's relatives and acquaintances, who told us she wasn’t involved in any disputes with anyone. She wasn’t argumentative and usually liked to stay at home,” he said.

The current search for suspects is focusing on ex-convicts who have served time for sexual assault, and on migrant laborers working in the area where the attack occurred, he said.

“We have to get every detail right, so we are working slowly and methodically in order to ensure we don’t make any mistakes or arrest innocent people,” he added.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-03-05

[krading]

"Round up the usual suspects." Capt Renault