British tourist reportedly raped in Kanchanaburi

[TerrylSky]

Well, this story and the replies are just sad for everyone. My comments? 1. No one should be raped. 2. Walking alone at 01:30 shouldn't be sinful, it should be safe for anyone 3. What are the details to this story? 4. True, she might not have used good judgment drinking then walking alone at that hour, but… 5. I don't want to even try to imagine the amount of Thai women that get raped every night in the country under similar or more brazen situations, even children 6. Of course, the suspects should be caught and hung if possible.

[impulse]

How about, its the fault of scumbags? Universal scumbags as can be found the world over. Scumbags who should be made an example of in the legal system, by getting a jail sentence so huge that it it strikes fear into the dark hearts of other scumbags and proto-scumbags everywhere, thus lowering the future incidences of scumbaggery.

We all agree, it's the fault of the scumbags.

But what practical advice would we give to a woman staying in Kanchanaburi tonight (or contemplating a trip in the near future), given what has happened? Rid the world of scumbags?

I don't have advice, it is just common sense that many attacks would not happen if the the attacker felt it was highly possible they would get caught and spend a long time in jail.

Some attackers will of course continue to attack regardless of consequences, but your average opportunistic scumbag won't risk 20 years in the slammer for something like this. With a low probability of arrest, and light sentences, it is a different proposition entirely.

Edit ; And I actually answered your question in the part of my post you edited out of your /quote. I said one should obviously take great care when travelling. But that this is easy to remember in principle, and harder for young people to remember when they are swept away on their holiday buzz. And that this is not their fault, it is a system that spends its whole time selling dream holidays to people, then doesn't regulate to protect those people properly when they arrive. Next time please don't cut my quote down by 2/3 and then ask me a question I already commented on in the snipped piece, thankyou.

My apologies, but "take great care when traveling" is a platitude. It's not practical advice. That's why I cropped it.

Edited May 29, 2015 by impulse

[chrissables]

Where does it say the biker gang was Thai...?

Also, this even happens in the nanny states, bikers all over the world make a point of raping, its a male chauvinistic culture that endorses abuse and objectification of women... this happens often even in the most highly "nannied" states... bikers are just scum with a delusional sense of entitlement and a perverted perspective on life, values, fellow human beings and society !

Having reported the crime proves well for the young lass... don't let these pathetic thugs have the better of her... !

Where do you think they came from, Mexico?

Bikers are scum, wow! You seem to have an issue in your pathetic mind about people who you have never met.

Maybe you should join them when they do a toy run to hospitals at Christmas and discuss your stupidity with them.

[cumgranosalum]

British,teenager,drunk, early morning walk alone = stupid

Comments like that = stupid

[ayayay]

Of course I do not blame the victim, but seriously, why do teenage tourists think getting drunk in a 3rd world country and wandering around like it's Disney World. Most Thai people have little and nothing to lose, they are not governed by the same controls found in the Nanny states. Tourist need to relaize that coming here and getting drunk and stoned and taking chances is not a good idea. I hope the catch the rapist and throw away the key, but of course, they will likely get 3 yrs, and then only if they are over 18.

So you are blaming the victim then.

Not blaming, but people needs to think how they act.

For example, if you are an 18 year old female, who gets drunk and wasted and then strips down bare naked in the middle of know where in a 3rd world country, is it her fault that she got raped? No. Can we blame her for it, No. But can we say that it was pretty stupid of her to act like that? YES!

[harryfrompattaya]

Why do you hope they catch the rapist and throw away the key? You know that is not going to happen here as you stated. Is that not your Judaeo-Christian upbringing speaking? Are you not looking down on Thailand's judicial and value systems?

CB

No in my culture I want him turned over the males in her family for his murder

That way little raping at least unable to do again

[Oziex1]

Of course I do not blame the victim, but seriously, why do teenage tourists think getting drunk in a 3rd world country and wandering around like it's Disney World. Most Thai people have little and nothing to lose, they are not governed by the same controls found in the Nanny states. Tourist need to relaize that coming here and getting drunk and stoned and taking chances is not a good idea. I hope the catch the rapist and throw away the key, but of course, they will likely get 3 yrs, and then only if they are over 18.

Probably because they think there in friendly country The Land of Smiles.

[bbbbooboo]

...another day in paradise

[simple1]

Why do you hope they catch the rapist and throw away the key? You know that is not going to happen here as you stated. Is that not your Judaeo-Christian upbringing speaking? Are you not looking down on Thailand's judicial and value systems?

CB

I do hope he was looking down on thailands judicial and value system! there have been many rapes of gullible european women/girls who come over here alone and think like fools! I have never seen in the thai news any thai's convicted of raping foreign women, the stories continually dissapear! name one just one! and get off your high horse and look at life as it is in thailand!

In Pattaya there have been a number of rapes of foreign female tourists. The convicted got 20+ year plus prison sentences.

[Yunla]

My apologies, but "take great care when traveling" is a platitude. It's not practical advice. That's why I cropped it.

No apologies needed, I understand why you cropped my post. But I do still believe that (as I said) one should always keep one's wits and take great care. I see that as practical.

But the other thing I said in my first post is probably close to the truth, this girl probably knew she should take care, her parents probably taught her this etc. But that young people arriving in this heat and exotic culture, it takes a few days to get over the culture shock, get over the jet lag, and get over the soaring high young people experience when arriving in an exotic location for the first time. As I said originally, it is easy to be philosophical about these things when sitting here on a PC, with decades of experience in a nation, but quite another when one is a very young person being swept away on the exotic novelty of their dream holiday.

I would urge young people to take great care when travelling anywhere, not just Asia but anywhere, but then I realise they might get swept away in the holiday spirit.

Personally I do go out at night sometimes, but only in areas I know to be safe, and I don't drink at all, so I have my wits about me.

In any case, these criminals should get harsh sentences which should be used as an example and a deterrent, because they are the problem, not young tourists who are just enjoying their normal holiday activities.

Edited May 29, 2015 by Yunla

[jsgatse]

Why do you hope they catch the rapist and throw away the key? You know that is not going to happen here as you stated. Is that not your Judaeo-Christian upbringing speaking? Are you not looking down on Thailand's judicial and value systems?

CB

So, what is your suggestion? You seem to condone, or at least accept, that nothing will happen. Why not stand up for common sense and the right thing? Or, can your point be extrapolated to mean - you move to Thailand and you must live like an animal?

[KamalaRider]

Of course I do not blame the victim, but seriously, why do teenage tourists think getting drunk in a 3rd world country and wandering around like it's Disney World. Most Thai people have little and nothing to lose, they are not governed by the same controls found in the Nanny states. Tourist need to relaize that coming here and getting drunk and stoned and taking chances is not a good idea. I hope the catch the rapist and throw away the key, but of course, they will likely get 3 yrs, and then only if they are over 18.

You just did blame the victim.

Why do holiday makers think they can wear a bikini in when on holiday.

Why did the man have his money in his pocket when he was drinking.

Why did the girl smile and chat with the taxi driver.

It is your attitude that continues to give excuses to violent behaviour.

She is on holiday. She went out for drinks. She walked back to her hotel. She chatted to some friendly motorcycle guys. As you chat with friendly girls.

Maybe they offered her a ride back to the hotel.

She did nothing wrong.

This government needs to step up punishment of offences against foreigners.especially crimes of rape and violence. Nobody cares about a bag snatch or a scam here and there for a few hundred baht. The violence against foreigners in this country is the worst in the entire world.

And this government needs to order the BiB to patrol at night.

The police only works late hours if they can get some tea money.

[TacoHell]

Hey Taco maybe put the blame on her parents if you want to justify ignorance. What responsible parents would allow a young daughter to go out in the world without a good understanding of the risk and teaching common sense before she left her home country.Yes we were all young once and we also made mistakes, but the world was different then too. She definitely didnot deserve what happened no one does. But attacking others doesnot fix it either.

Hey lovelomsak ,

How do you assume her parents even knew? I will speak from experience as some people are self-sufficient at a young age. I was all over South America at that age, lots of crazy things happened from being robbed, guns pointed at my head, to having a seizure and ending up in a hospital for 2 weeks in Panama.

I have a close relationship with my parents, but they know nothing about that.

This girl was raped, according to the story.

Not everyone is relying on mommy and daddy to live their lives.

Please engage your brain

[BlackJack]

Within 24 hours of the Tourism Minister assuring that Thailand is a 'safe' destination we get the dead bungee jumper and now this. This alleged rape has already been reported in the UK press (Mail so no link)

and

and

and

all the other incidents not reported

oh the thai guy knifing his GF in broad daylight

[stephenterry]

She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A victim of circumstances. Being a young drunk female farang walking alone at past midnight in a strange country and encountering a biker gang of young male locals out to impress their peers and prove their virility is a situation best avoided. However, to put it into perspective how many young women would have done exactly that, and not met a gang of bikers? Hundreds? What we read here is one such occurrence that went wrong for the victim, we don't read about the others because nothing bad happened.

In hindsight, of course she should have realised that her actions were not the most sensible, and at the very least someone should have accompanied her back to her lodgings, but humans (in general) tend to think 'it won't happen to me'.

What tour companies should promote here, is that (like many places in the world) it is not safe to walk alone at night, especially if you're female. And until TAT reinforce that message instead of promoting otherwise, these acts of violence will reoccur.

[fishbrando]

Victim blaming: She was dressed as a slut so she had it coming.

Common sense: You shouldn't walk alone and drunk in the middle of the night in a remote area in a third-world country because it is dangerous.

Another old fart comment, 19yrs old, and travelling the world. She did not deserve this, and frankly your comment says a lot about your character.

Another troll comment

It's just common sense as I said.

No, it's not. fishbrando . Please explain to me how much common sense you had at 19? What were you doing at 19? Did you scour the internet for travel advice at age 19? Did you take perhaps a trip of a lifetime at 19? Did you factor GANG RAPE to the equation?

I am going to take a wild guess here, but my money is on this lady at the age of 19, did what most people at the age of 19 would dream of. She took a trip to <enter any exotic location here>.

No matter if she was drunk, on drugs, dressed seductively, or trusted the wrong people.

If the story is true, it's a horrendous crime.

Do you have any sisters or female loved ones in your life?

If so, shame on you.

I'm not really sure what point you're trying to make. You start out saying that what I said wasn't common sense, then you're saying that I probably didn't have much common sense at 19, then you ask exactly what I was doing at 19 and whether I thought about GANG RAPE, then you talk about a trip of a life time and who cares how drunk she was, and then ask if I have any sisters. All I see here is a bunch of straw men and appeal to emotion and not a lot of logical argument.

Let's stick to the point. Going out drunk in the middle of the night in a foreign country is not safe. Heck, it's probably not safe in your own country. This is common sense. Can you really argue with this particular point?

Perhaps teenagers don't have much common sense, but they're pretty internet-savvy these days and they may be reading this, and perhaps some of them will pay attention. And yes, I did do a lot of reading on the internet as a teenager, and learned from its collective wisdom.

If the story is true, yes, it was a horrendous crime. Let's see if we can prevent it from happening again.

Do you have any sisters or female loved ones in your life? If so, shame on you for discouraging advice on how to avoid being a victim. It's as if you want them to have the highest possible chance of being a victim.

[quandow]

Victim blaming: She was dressed as a slut so she had it coming.

Common sense: You shouldn't walk alone and drunk in the middle of the night in a remote area in a third-world country because it is dangerous.

The voice of reality. THANK you!

[DLock]

This must be a mistake.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/828605-thai-tourism-ministry-assures-diplomats-travel-here-is-safe-for-their-citizens/

Popcorn says all citizens are safe in Thailand...so this did not happen.

[NickJ]

tourist.......rug......swept.......under.

[fishbrando]

Victim blaming: She was dressed as a slut so she had it coming.

Common sense: You shouldn't walk alone and drunk in the middle of the night in a remote area in a third-world country because it is dangerous.

Another old fart comment, 19yrs old, and travelling the world. She did not deserve this, and frankly your comment says a lot about your character.

Another troll comment which frankly says a lot about your character.

It's just common sense as I said. No one is saying she deserved it, we're just saying that you can take precautions to stay safe - it doesn't matter how old the person is, what their gender is, or what they're doing.

People who cry "victim blaming" every time people try to give helpful advice are doing a disservice to others by creating more innocent victims for criminals to prey upon. "How dare you give advice on how to avoid being a victim? I should be able to do anything I want and be completely immune to criminals!"

just because someone disagrees with your opinion it doesn't make them a troll. ...and frankly there's a lot to disagree with in your attitude.....do you realise even in this response you are resorting to stereotyping? - to wit - "People who cry "victim blaming" etc. etc.

You're right, just because someone disagrees with my opinion, it doesn't make them a troll.

What does make them a troll is (intentionally?) lacking reading comprehension, calling people names, and questioning their character with no reasons given.

And you left something out: I said "People who cry "victim blaming" every time people try to give helpful advice". This is not stereotyping a group, this is specifying a very precise and despicable subset of that group.

So please tell me what is disagreeable about my attitude of trying to help people avoid being victims.

[Prbkk]

To say that she behaved foolishly is not blaming the victim. These kids are lulled into a false sense of security and act in a way they would never contemplate in London, New York or Sydney. Generally Thailand is less dangerous than those cities and that is why this story is shocking and newsworthy.

[Pinot]

Rape statistics for 2007, source Wikipedia.

Reported rapes per 100,000 of population.

USA: 29.8

Scotland: 17.0

Thailand: 6.8

Suggests she twice as safe here than being at home in Scotland?

Those Thailand rapes are Thais. There isn't a problem with Thais attacking farang women. Well, there is now because one has occured.

I thought everyone was losing the plot here. A farang woman getting raped is an unusual occurrence in LOS. That's the reason I clicked on the post. I can't remember the last time it happened in Phuket. Yea, it does happen but it's rare.

I been traveling for the last month all over SE Asia and I've always felt safe. Walking down a Bangkok street at 3 AM I feel safe. Man or woman can't do that in most Western countries.

[quandow]

I had a girlfriend whose family lived in a little village called Sapsumboon, 22 kilometers south of Sakeo. When we would go to visit, she absolutely forbade me to go out at night by myself, saying that we were too close to the Cambodian border and that I could become a victim of robbery. There weren't any places where a single farang could find some "strange," that wasn't her concern. I was warned and never went at night out without her and/or the family.

There is no way this girl could have lived in a vacuum all her life and not been aware of the dangers of going out at night, drunk and alone, particularly in Kanchanaburi. I worked there for a while, I wouldn't go out at night there, alone and drunk!

I'm sorry this happened to her, but soom noom na. The world is an ugly place, with many ugly people, you HAVE to watch out for yourself.

[samuibeachcomber]

Sadly is there anywhere in the world that anyone would be safe in public, and drunk, at that time of morning, ?

I feel sorry she seem'd not to know this.

What a lifetime memory ahead she'll have in learning that lesson.

(And yes, many rapes happen in private, from persons known to them.)

no where is safe these days..........anywhere! everyone needs to be vigilant,dont get too drunk so you dont know what you are doing,do not walk alone,and this advice is for guys and girls.It's a fact that we live in a much more violent world than say 40-50 years ago.Perpetrators everywhere are not afraid of the consequences of their actions cos there in no respect anymore.

[happy Joe]

Victim blaming: She was dressed as a slut so she had it coming.

Common sense: You shouldn't walk alone and drunk in the middle of the night in a remote area in a third-world country because it is dangerous.

In some suburbs of our country secure if a young drunk girl walking alone at 1.30 am for sure would be raped, robbed and sometimes tortured too.

[SoiBiker]

Sadly is there anywhere in the world that anyone would be safe in public, and drunk, at that time of morning, ?

I feel sorry she seem'd not to know this.

What a lifetime memory ahead she'll have in learning that lesson.

(And yes, many rapes happen in private, from persons known to them.)

no where is safe these days..........anywhere! everyone needs to be vigilant,dont get too drunk so you dont know what you are doing,do not walk alone,and this advice is for guys and girls.It's a fact that we live in a much more violent world than say 40-50 years ago.Perpetrators everywhere are not afraid of the consequences of their actions cos there in no respect anymore.

Hysterical nonsense.

The sky is not falling.

[Lupatria]

Where does it say the biker gang was Thai...?

Also, this even happens in the nanny states, bikers all over the world make a point of raping, its a male chauvinistic culture that endorses abuse and objectification of women... this happens often even in the most highly "nannied" states... bikers are just scum with a delusional sense of entitlement and a perverted perspective on life, values, fellow human beings and society !

Having reported the crime proves well for the young lass... don't let these pathetic thugs have the better of her... !

Your username says a lot. Been on the green too long Mr. Supersmart?

Put the bong aside and read this:

2013 Thailand's year of testicular offensive: 87 reported cases of sexual violence per day!

According to current statistics, an average of 87 cases of sexual violence against women and children were reported per day in Thailand - about one case in every 15 minutes. Officially, the number for 2013 is 31.866.

Regarding your profound knowledge of bikers check this out:

http://bacaworld.org/

While you are sitting on the couch getting stoned- we are doing something! However, I wish you had the cohones to make unsubstantial general remarks about biker to some of the 1%er!

[abitmiffed]

Kanchanaburi:- Words widely spread that a 19-year-old British tourist has been raped in Mueang Kanchanaburi district, Khaosod Online reported.

Khaosod said the report of the rape could not be officially confirmed but a meeting of senior police officers took place at the Kanchanaburi Police head office at 11:30 am Thursday.

The meeting was called by Pol Lt Gen Wirapong Chuenphakdee, commissioner of the Provincial Police Bureau 7 which is in charge of Kanchanaburi.

Kachanaburi police chief Pol Maj Gen Kamolsanti Klunbutr, Mueang Kanchanaburi police chief Pol Col Phisut Sukrasorn and Thamuang police chief Pol Col Anansit Promsantichon and several other officers attended the meeting.

Maybe 1 day people will wake up and stop coming here....

physically she will recover.

Mentally she will never recover.

But its lucky they didn't kill her.

[longstebe]

Regardless of what time it was or what she was wearing these bastards need putting down.

I think we all agree with that.

But what would you tell your daughter/ sister if she called and said she was staying in Kanchanaburi tonight? Or planning a trip to Kanchanaburi in the near future?

You would say have a good time and be careful.

What you say or don't say wouldn't have changed the outcome. Its a natural thing that a parent would say.

What is your point?

[fred Kubasa]

Thailand the " Baltimore" of Asia ?