Dutch Tourist Retracts Phi Phi Sexual Assault Report

[webfact]

Dutch tourist retracts Phi Phi sexual assault report
Phuket Gazette


Tourists arrive at Phi Phi Island, about 40km from Phuket. A Dutch woman on Tuesday reported to police she was raped on her first night on the island, but later recanted her story. Photo: Gazette file

PHUKET: -- A Dutch woman who reported to police that she was raped on Monday while on holiday on Phi Phi Island, near Phuket, recanted her story yesterday.

The 25-year-old woman told police that she and a friend arrived on Phi Phi on Monday and checked into a hotel.

“She then went alone to a bar by the beach,” said Krabi Provincial Police Commander Nantadech Yoinuan.

“She said she got very drunk. The next thing she knew she was lying on the beach and a man was raping her. She screamed and he ran away,” Maj Gen Nantadech said.

The woman returned to her hotel, then filed her complaint with police on Tuesday evening.

“Police took her to get a sexual assault medical test,” Gen Nantadech said.

She was also tested for drugs.

Over the next couple of days, police escorted her to several locations to help her identify where the incident had happened, but she was unable to remember the location or what the man looked like.

“We have very little information to go on. The victim cannot recall the suspect and she does not know where she was raped,” Gen Nantadech told the Phuket Gazette.

“We are starting from the last place she was drinking so we can check the CCTV footage and move on from there,” he added.

The results of the sexual assault tests did not indicate that she had been raped, police told the Gazette yesterday. The drug tests take several days to process and are not yet available.

The woman’s inability to remember where the incident happened, along with the test results, caused her to start doubting herself, police said, and yesterday she retracted her complaint.

Following a spate of sex attacks being reported in the tourist-popular area five months ago, Krabi City Police Chief Thaksin Phochakorn admitted to the Gazette that the recurring issue of rape and sexual assault was starting to take its toll on his officers (story here).

“We are heavy-hearted over this issue because it is consistently recurring in Krabi and, according to Krabi Police records, in many cases the victim is a tourist.

“Almost 100 per cent of sexual assault victims in Krabi knew their attacker beforehand. The encounter usually begins with the victims being friendly [with the attackers] and being willing to drink and hang out with men they do not know well,” he said.

“I would like to warn tourists to please be aware that once you start drinking, a situation can become more dangerous due to the effects of alcohol,” he added.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Dutch-tourist-retracts-Phi-Phi-rape-report-20438.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2013-03-08

[Jimi007]

Quote of the day by Krabi City Police Chief Thaksin Phochakorn:

“I would like to warn tourists to please be aware that once you start drinking, a situation can become more dangerous due to the effects of alcohol,” he added.

[dcutman]

Quote of the day by Krabi City Police Chief Thaksin Phochakorn:

“I would like to warn tourists to please be aware that once you start drinking, a situation can become more dangerous due to the effects of alcohol,” he added.

Not sure about that.

The results of the sexual assault tests did not indicate that she had been raped, police told the Gazette yesterday. The drug tests take

several days to process and are not yet available.

[Jimi007]

Quote of the day by Krabi City Police Chief Thaksin Phochakorn:

“I would like to warn tourists to please be aware that once you start drinking, a situation can become more dangerous due to the effects of alcohol,” he added.

Not sure about that.

The results of the sexual assault tests did not indicate that she had been raped, police told the Gazette yesterday. The drug tests take

several days to process and are not yet available.

I'm not sure what you are disputing about his quote. Alcohol is a drug. Yes there may be another drug involved, but one of the drugs that is almost always involved, is alcohol.

[Psych01]

So, have they actually had the results from the sexual results test?

[Jimi007]

So, have they actually had the results from the sexual results test?

Did you actually read the article? Apparently not:

The results of the sexual assault tests did not indicate that she had been raped, police told the Gazette yesterday. The drug tests take several days to process and are not yet available.

The woman’s inability to remember where the incident happened, along with the test results, caused her to start doubting herself, police said, and yesterday she retracted her complaint.

[harrycallahan]

“I would like to warn tourists to please be aware that once you start drinking, a situation can become more dangerous due to the effects of alcohol,” he added.

Isn't that called "blaming the victim" ?

[jamhar]

I fear for her drug test. How do you wake up "thinking" you've been raped? Ive woken up countless times after being totally sh*tfaced. Even still drunk on a number of occasions. Never with a hallucination to that degree.

She is lucky this was TL. In other parts of the world, a false report like this would not have been taken so nicely. A lot of man-hours and expense was spent because of her accusations.

[sirchai]

The results of the sexual assault tests did not indicate that she had been raped, police told the Gazette yesterday. The drug tests take several days to process and are not yet available.

So would she be drug positive then she'd raped somebody?

How did the "sexual assault test" happen? What a bunch of bs.

They do have drug testers showing results in a few minutes/hours.--

Edited March 8, 2013 by sirchai

[Zatoichi]

I would like to warn tourists to please be aware that once you start drinking, a situation can become more dangerous due to the effects of alcohol, he added.

Isn't that called "blaming the victim" ?

Actually it sounds more like a ounce of prevention. Lets be real.

[gaucho]

stevie bamford all over again ....

[slipperx]

If a woman gets smashed out of her mind and doesn't know what she is doing then she is contributing to what may happen to her. If a man drives a car and is drunk and has an accident then he must accept that just maybe his sober reflexes could have averted the accident. If another person does something stupid like drive a bike in front of the car with no helmet driving the wrong way then that must mitigate (though not erase) the act of driving whilst not fit. If a man takes advantage of a girl who is drunk then his mitigation must be less since if he is capable then he cannot be that drunk and therefore has responsibility to weigh the state of the woman and whether he should be doing what he is doing. The fact she cannot remember anything may be as a result of persuasion of the authorities to avoid another murdering man of krabi rape episode or maybe she was just too drunk to remember - and if she was too drunk then what can she expect the police to do?

Really if you get drunk you cannot expect the law to protect you 100% but neither should the law ignore the other person's involvement and state of competency at the time

[JetsetBkk]

"She then went alone to a bar by the beach,” said Krabi Provincial Police Commander Nantadech Yoinuan.

“She said she got very drunk".

Stupid girl.

[jamhar]

The results of the sexual assault tests did not indicate that she had been raped, police told the Gazette yesterday. The drug tests take several days to process and are not yet available.

So would she be drug positive then she'd raped somebody?

How did the "sexual assault test" happen? What a bunch of bs.

They do have drug testers showing results in a few minutes/hours.--

Not sure what you're getting at.

Rape tests, i believe, are pretty well understood. At the very least, i believe they look for physical trama, and biologic evidence.

(but i'm just an engineer, what do i know? lol)

Drug test can take some time depending on the queue and the tests involved. and can indicate how compromised she was, so for instance, why she may have not struggled, explaining no physical signs of struggle, if there were non. Or she may have taken some psychedelic hallucinogens implying something else. Or she may have been slipped a date rape type drug, implying other things. The point is, the tests aren't complete yet.

Her inability to remember and a negative rape test isn't good for her.

but like i said, luckily she is in TL and most likely

the police will just forget the whole thing,

provided the drug tests comes back negative.

[maidu]

here's my 2 satang take on this: she did get sexually assaulted. She was drunk while it happened. After filing a formal report, she realized the prolonged hassles entailed, and her vacation time was slipping away with cops and questions. She was smashed and couldn't recall the guy's face (I got robbed in Mexico years ago, and when the cops brought some suspects around, I couldn't be sure of identity). That sort of thing can happen in a foreign country. I think she got sexually accosted, and now wants to put the cat back in the bag because of all the hassles it's bringing. Plus, she may be being told she'll have to testify in court and extend her stay by weeks/months to do so.

[saakura]

I would like to warn tourists to please be aware that once you start drinking, a situation can become more dangerous due to the effects of alcohol, he added.

Isn't that called "blaming the victim" ?

No, it sounds more like police cautioning tourists, for their own good, to be careful of drinking large amounts of alcohol with strangers in a new country. Just like you may advise your daughter or other youngsters.

[rbrooks]

Based on the Thai police's level of corruption and the admission of a recent high toll of rapes in the area by the Krabi Police chief, there is a good chance that the results of the sexual assault tests could be incorrect. I could be wrong but let's face it, who in their right mind would really trust any results from a Thai police investigation in the western world?

[attento]

“I would like to warn tourists to please be aware that once you start drinking, a situation can become more dangerous due to the effects of alcohol,” he added.

Isn't that called "blaming the victim" ?

maybe, but it is customary for police in most countries to highlight danger situations and risky practises. Thailand is not unique in that

[attento]

The results of the sexual assault tests did not indicate that she had been raped, police told the Gazette yesterday. The drug tests take several days to process and are not yet available.

So would she be drug positive then she'd raped somebody?

How did the "sexual assault test" happen? What a bunch of bs.

They do have drug testers showing results in a few minutes/hours.--

Not sure what you're getting at.

Rape tests, i believe, are pretty well understood. At the very least, i believe they look for physical trama, and biologic evidence.

(but i'm just an engineer, what do i know? lol)

Drug test can take some time depending on the queue and the tests involved. and can indicate how compromised she was, so for instance, why she may have not struggled, explaining no physical signs of struggle, if there were non. Or she may have taken some psychedelic hallucinogens implying something else. Or she may have been slipped a date rape type drug, implying other things. The point is, the tests aren't complete yet.

Her inability to remember and a negative rape test isn't good for her.

but like i said, luckily she is in TL and most likely

the police will just forget the whole thing,

provided the drug tests comes back negative.

Positive signs of violent sexual intercourse are not proof of rape. ( and I am not even as qualified as an Engineer, so I know even less )

[thongsuknork]

See the web post she and a friend when u have a friend why not go with him have some drinks come back to hotel and drink all night you dont have to worry

[FDog]

See the web post she and a friend when u have a friend why not go with him have some drinks come back to hotel and drink all night you dont have to worry

The sad part is that a women, even pissed out of her mind, should not have to worry about sexual assault.

Why should women have to drink at home to be safe?

Surely they have every right to get as pissed as men in bars and be safe from sexual assault. Stop blaming the victim (not that you are).

[Jimi007]

“I would like to warn tourists to please be aware that once you start drinking, a situation can become more dangerous due to the effects of alcohol,” he added.

Isn't that called "blaming the victim" ?

What can you dispute about the police cheif's quote? Pretty much indisputable IMO. How is he blaming the "victim?" Other than she can't remember a thing and it started with getting too drunk most likely. Unless of course she was drugged by another substance by her alleged attacker. Unfortunately there has bee a number of foreign women that have been crying rape here lately for one reason or another. They seem to be getting disproved or discredited by the local police based on what evidence they are able to gather, including video camera footage. No one truly knows what happened, but crying wolf isn't helping anyone who was truly assaulted!

[Jimi007]

See the web post she and a friend when u have a friend why not go with him have some drinks come back to hotel and drink all night you dont have to worry

The sad part is that a women, even pissed out of her mind, should not have to worry about sexual assault.

Why should women have to drink at home to be safe?

Surely they have every right to get as pissed as men in bars and be safe from sexual assault. Stop blaming the victim (not that you are).

I agree with you. Unfortunately people have to beware of their surroundings and take personal responsibility as there is always someone looking to take advantage of someone who presents themselves as easy prey.

[Locationthailand]

Raped? Maybe (hearsay)

Result of rape test? Negative

Withdrawing claim? Done

Result of drug test? TBA.

Just get on with your holiday girl, and don't get pissed out of your tree. Take 'some' responsibility even if the act did occur.

[SeaVisionBurma]

Several posts, and a reply quoting one - have been removed.

Ridiculous nonsense won't be tolerated; some of you need to show some responsibility and try to moderate yourselves a bit more before hitting the 'post' button.

[maidu]

If this had been fueled by any recreational drug other than alcohol, then the headlines would be screaming - using the term 'drug-induced crime!' ....and most posts here would be advocating stricter abolition of that drug. Yet, because it's alcohol-related, there's scant mention of the drug. I'm not advocating abolishing drinking fermented sugars and yeast poop, but instead advocating a more liberal attitude towards certain other recreational drugs - which are relatively harmless. Examples; Pot smoking, which doesn't lead to violent behavior, but instead renders users sweetly dumb and lazy. Or HEMP, which is classified as a type 5 DRUG and can get a person slammed in prison, is completely harmless - it can't get you stoned, period. Time for Thai authorities to take a look at drug laws? Naw, easier to just criminalize all rec.drugs other than alcohol. Wouldn't want to piss off the trillion dollar alcohol industry would we?

[Judo Chop]

Law enforcement around the world rely on drunk idiots to keep them in a job.

[harrycallahan]

Multiple replies to me re "blaming the victim".

I posted that with this forum in mind. Twice recently there have been reported rapes, Dutch girl in Chiang Mai, Scottish girl down south, and posters here have said that it was unwise for them to have consumed alcohol in excess.

Those posters then get accused of "blaming the victim".

As far as I can see it's the same thing. The Thai official is talking in a general sense, though certainly with these incidents in mind, and it is a pre-warning.

It's like if you advised Girl A to not get too drunk because she might get sexually assaulted, that's fine, advising a sensible caution.

If Girl A gets too drunk and gets sexually assaulted and you suggest - not to her, like here on the internet - that it wasn't wise to get too drunk then you are "blaming the victim".

Edited March 9, 2013 by harrycallahan

[NanLaew]

“I would like to warn tourists to please be aware that once you start drinking, a situation can become more dangerous due to the effects of alcohol,” he added.

Isn't that called "blaming the victim" ?

More like "stating the obvious". Note the additional quote referenced does not specifically mention females or aledged rape victims, it addresses the sensibly wide demographic of non gender-specific 'tourists'.

[NanLaew]

Multiple replies to me re "blaming the victim".

I posted that with this forum in mind. Twice recently there have been reported rapes, Dutch girl in Chiang Mai, Scottish girl down south, and posters here have said that it was unwise for them to have consumed alcohol in excess.

Those posters then get accused of "blaming the victim".

As far as I can see it's the same thing. The Thai official is talking in a general sense, though certainly with these incidents in mind, and it is a pre-warning.

It's like if you advised Girl A to not get too drunk because she might get sexually assaulted, that's fine, advising a sensible caution.

If Girl A gets too drunk and gets sexually assaulted and you suggest - not to her, like here on the internet - that it wasn't wise to get too drunk then you are "blaming the victim".

I sort of see where you are coming from. But the cop being quoted isn't specifically referencing this victim so it should be taken as a fairly non-accusatory statement of fact that when you get blootered, you have more chance of becoming a crime victim; any sort of crime. No blame being affixed there as far as I can see. Trying to instill some sense of responsibility in the actions of pissed up farangs whilst they are still sober shouldn't be seen as part of any blame game. Edited March 9, 2013 by NanLaew