Nepalis Protest Rape, Extortion At Phuket Police Station

[Lite Beer]

Nepalis protest rape, extortion at Phuket police station

Patong Police Superintendent Arayaphan Pukbuakhao(black jacket)

and ethnic Nepali women allegedly victimized by the suspect.

Protest leader Phanuphong Limbuprasertkul

PHUKET: Over 200 ethnic Nepalese converged at Patong Police Station this evening to protest the actions of a Thai man they allege raped as least four members of their community and stole and extorted valuables of several other Nepali women.

The alleged rapist, 29-year-old Phakpoom Maneerat, was arrested in Phuket Town at about noon today.

A native of Nonthaburi province, Mr Phakpoom is married to a Phuket woman and has lived on the island for seven years, police said.

The protesters arrived at 7:30pm and stayed until 10pm, when they complied with a police request to leave.

One of the alleged victims, a Nepali woman in her early 20s, filed a complaint with Phuket Provincial Police in May last year.

She was approached by a man in a car as she walked her job at the Jungceylon shopping center in Patong on May 4 last year.

According to the statement, the man identified himself as an officer of the law and demanded to see her worker identification papers.

Noticing the documents had expired, he drove to Patong Police Station and went inside, leaving the woman alone in the locked car with the engine still running.

He returned about three minutes later and said he would have to drive the woman to Immigration Headquarters in Phuket Town.

He stopped at a service station in Phuket Town, where he offered to “deal with” the expired ID card in exchange for a cash payment of 15,000 baht, the woman wrote in her complaint.

When the woman said she only had 3,000 baht, he demanded that she hand over her gold necklace and bracelet and a Nokia mobile phone valued at 7,000 baht before driving back to Patong.

She said she was told she could meet the man at the station the following day, but he never appeared.

The woman met with Thai-Nepalese club president Phanuphong Limbuprasertkup and filed a complaint with provincial police the same day.

Mr Phanupong said that other ethnic Nepalese living in the area had been extorted in a similar fashion and that at least four had been raped by the same man.

Alleged victims appeared in the conference room at Patong Police Station this evening, heads down to protect their honor.

There to hear their grievances was Patong Police Superintendent Arayaphan Pukbuakhao.

A press conference is scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Mr Phanupong said there were about 2,000 ethnic Nepalese living in Phuket.

It is understood that many are refugees from lands controlled by the Burma junta.

They typically work in the Phuket tourism industry, using their English language skills to sell souvenirs, DVDs and tailoring services to foreign tourists, even though retail sales work is legally restricted to Thai nationals in the Kingdom.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-04-03

[Jimi007]

Corrupt police in Patong and all around Phuket? Really?

I hope they make an example of this slime if he did what he is accused of doing...

Edited April 3, 2011 by Jimi007

[webfact]

Serial rapist confesses to Phuket Police

Mr Phakphoom, in handcuffs, is led from Patong Police Station

after this morning's press conference.

The rapist's most recent victim, aged 25, speaks with Maj Gen Pekad

at Patong Police Station this morning.

PHUKET: -- A serial rapist who preyed on young female members of the Phuket ethnic Nepali community is behind bars tonight after confessing to multiple charges of sexual assault, robbery and impersonating a policeman.

The accused, 30-year-old Phakpoom Maneerat, was presented to the media at a press conference at Patong Police Station at 10:30am.

The gravity of the case was evidenced by the fact that the gathering was presided over by Phuket Provincial Police Superintendent Pekat Thantipong.

For our previous story about Mr Phakphoom’s arrest in Phuket Town at noon yesterday, click here.

At the press conference, Mr Phakphoom admitted to abducting and raping six ethnic Nepalese women working in Patong, but police fear the number of victims may have been higher. They have encouraged other victims to contact them and file charges.

Mr Phakphoom confessed to impersonating a police officer to abduct the women, all employed in the tourist-oriented retail sales industry in Patong.

Some were taken to locations in Krabi and Nakhon Sri Thammarat, where they were confined and raped repeatedly over a period of days. Many also had valuables stolen, police said.

Mr Phakphoom was an unemployed resident of Phuket Town, police said.

Married with two children, his wife operated an unspecified private business in Phuket Town, they said.

Some 100 members of the local Nepali community turned up for this morning’s press conference, about the half number who appeared at Patong Police Station last night after the arrest was announced.

Led by Thai-Nepalese club president Phanuphong Limbuprasertkup, the Nepalese offered bouquets of flowers to arresting officers and their superiors to thank them for the arrest.

Also at the station was the rapist’s latest victim, a 25-year-old woman who told police she was walking with friends at about 10:30am on March 28 along Phang Muang Sai Kor Road, behind the Jungceylon shopping complex, when a Toyota Vigo pickup cut them off.

The accused emerged from the vehicle, asking all in the group to produce identification papers, she said.

When she was unable to do so, he ordered her into the vehicle and then took her to an unspecified location in Krabi, where she was held in captivity and raped repeatedly until she was returned to Patong by the accused on April 1.

Head held low throughout the press conference, Mr Phakphoom admitted he used the same modus operandi in each case, identifying himself as an officer of the law to abduct and then rape and rob his victims.

They were always approached in the same area, near Jungceylon or the nearby JJ Plaza, he confessed.

He declined to reply to questioning from Maj Gen Pekad as to why he preyed solely on ethnic Nepali women, when woman of so many other ethnicities, races and nationalities could be found in Patong.

He simply confirmed that all of the victims were young, Nepali woman.

Police would investigate further to try to find other victims and confirm that Mr Phakphoom acted alone, Maj Gen Pekad said.

Cases of Thai people posing as government officers to extort migrant workers from Burma and lands controlled by the Burmese junta have been numerous in Phuket in recent years.

Most Burmese workers in Phuket work in the low-pay construction, fishing and rubber tapping industries.

Ethnic Nepalese are well established in west-coast tourism destinations, where they usually work in the tourism-based retail sales industry – even though such work is legally restricted to Thais.

Although their sales tactics are a common source of complaint to the provincial office, they are seldom implicated in serious crimes on the island.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-04-04

[snoother]

http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2011/article10958.html that's unbelievable

[thaiIand]

why wasn't he transferred to an other district?

[Soupdragon]

Has Phuket suffered a complete breakdown of law and order ??

What sort of message is this sending to Phukets 'Foreign' communities ? Live in fear because the law will not protect you.

Unbelievable.

[stevenl]

why wasn't he transferred to an other district?

Did you read? He was not a police officer.

[stevenl]

Has Phuket suffered a complete breakdown of law and order ??

What sort of message is this sending to Phukets 'Foreign' communities ? Live in fear because the law will not protect you.

Unbelievable.

I just read here the perpetrator has been arrested. So why does the law not protect you?

[steelepulse]

No, he's been set free as per the gazette article in post number 4. I have to agree, it's unbelievable.

[stevenl]

No, he's been set free as per the gazette article in post number 4. I have to agree, it's unbelievable.

Apparently there is no confession and no accusation of rape as well. All very unclear and seems very strange.

[hehehoho]

He was released in June.

Perhaps he didn't get to return the uniforms to the police station before he was sent to the monkey house and they needed them back.

Edited September 14, 2011 by hehehoho

[steelepulse]

Here;s a great bit. Seems they're blaming the victim in the below: Unbelievable

"

“I’ve been told one reason the charges against Phakpoom have been dropped is that the victim had opportunities to escape, but did not. For example, she could have escaped from the car or she could have escaped from the room [in Krabi] when he went out for food,” the lawyer said.