Thai Rape Cover Up

[Charma]

I came across this story from the UK News & Star regarding the rape in February of Corrie-Anne Holt:

A NEW investigation into the rape of Dalston teenager Corrie-Anne Holt shows how police in Thailand tried to cover up the attack.

A video shot shortly after Corrie was raped shows the traumatised teen recalling the attack as she sits on a step rocking back and forth, at the home of a woman who heard her screams for help.

Corrie was travelling on the island in February when she says she was drugged and dragged out of a bar in front of police before being physically attacked.

The video, initially seized by Thai police, was only released after the intervention of the Foreign Office.

Corrie, 19, first spoke publicly in February about the rape on Koh Samui.Corrie, 19, first spoke publicly in February about the rape on Koh Samui.

It contradicts police claims that she was dressed provocatively in a see-through top and that she was so drunk she was unable to speak properly.

Corrie, a former pupil at Caldew School, was horrified that Thai officials appeared to be more interested in protecting the area’s reputation as a tourist haven than in catching her attackers.

The video is going to be screened on UK TV tonight in Look North's "Inside Out" programme. The programme presenter and producer apparently travelled to Samui to investigate the story. Screening tonight at 7.30pm on BBC1.

More good news for Samui's reputation? Full story here: http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=413091

[taxexile]

well done charma for finding and posting that , i hope it gets picked up by the mainstream uk press and that it eventually makes it into the thai press , but i doubt it.

the thai police , or at least the police in some districts are nothing more than a disgrace , the more their antics are publicised the better.

Edited September 18, 2006 by taxexile

[SamuiJens]

Yes, well done Charma. Sad, but good that other countries have to come to LOS to investigate crimes that the Thai officials should have taken seriously, only to be put looked down on for poor investigating (probable they didn't take a farang female teen serious/ or didn't care, out of their lack of respect for females)

[sbk]

Something I have noticed with not just Thai people but some of the farang that post on this forum is a tendency to blame the victim.

I think many Thai people often feel that a girl who gets raped must have done something to attract the rapist in the first place, hence the comment about being drunk and scantily dressed. It seems common to many Thai people so I can hardly see the police (who are generally men) being more sympathetic towards a rape victim. There appears to be no rape training for the police and from what I have seen, very few policewomen actively involved in police work. Many rape victims do not feel comfortable dealing with a man, and then add in a man who blames the victim and you have a crime that goes unpursued and unpunished.

I am not surprised something like this happened, I suspect it happens all over Thailand to not just tourists but Thai women as well but goes unreported or not pursued by the police for the reasons outlined above.

Perhaps foreign scrutiny will change public perceptions, or at least govt policy in these cases, but I doubt it will last long.

[Charma]

I think you are right. I would guess that the Thai police are where the police in the UK were about twenty five years ago when it comes to investigation of rape. There was a huge outcry at that time over the treatment many women recieved from disbelieving (male) officers. Things have improved massively, with dedicated doctors and police officers and better training for all involved.

With Thailand, the situation is only made worse by an understandable tendency to want to protect their countries (or their islands) reputation and prevent damage to tourism.

Unfortunately, I could not watch the programme as it was only aired in the northern regions. Wonder if anyone else out their did watch it?

[taxexile]

It seems common to many Thai people so I can hardly see the police (who are generally men) being more sympathetic towards a rape victim. There appears to be no rape training for the police and from what I have seen, very few policewomen actively involved in police work. Many rape victims do not feel comfortable dealing with a man, and then add in a man who blames the victim and you have a crime that goes unpursued and unpunished.

all the more reason to publicise these attitudes as widely as possible in the countries that send large numbers of visitors here.

if people know that they will be visiting a country or an island with a neanderthal , lazy and bullying police force who see nothing really that amiss with the raping of women , then visitors can decide for themselves whether they should visit or not.

had a falang male raped a thai woman , then you could bet your life savings that there would have been a full and relentless investigation. with tv re enactments and cries of "more drunken falang criminals running amok in our unspoiled paradise" , and if that woman had been a bar girl , then i doubt if her clothing style or lifestyle would have been held as a reason for her misfortune.

Edited September 19, 2006 by taxexile

[womble]

It seems common to many Thai people so I can hardly see the police (who are generally men) being more sympathetic towards a rape victim. There appears to be no rape training for the police and from what I have seen, very few policewomen actively involved in police work. Many rape victims do not feel comfortable dealing with a man, and then add in a man who blames the victim and you have a crime that goes unpursued and unpunished.

all the more reason to publicise these attitudes as widely as possible in the countries that send large numbers of visitors here.

if people know that they will be visiting a country or an island with a neanderthal , lazy and bullying police force who see nothing really that amiss with the raping of women , then visitors can decide for themselves whether they should visit or not.

had a falang male raped a thai woman , then you could bet your life savings that there would have been a full and relentless investigation. with tv re enactments and cries of "more drunken falang criminals running amok in our unspoiled paradise" , and if that woman had been a bar girl , then i doubt if her clothing style or lifestyle would have been held as a reason for her misfortune.

If it had been a bargirl, I don't think she would have even got in the police station to report it. I doubt there's many people in jail for raping bargirls in thailand, not unless it involved obvious extreme violence.

[sbk]

I agree womble, I recall a Thai newspaper article last year that showed a picture of a scantily clad Thai bargirl who had been raped and basically implied that she had been asking for it because 1) she was scantily clad and 2) she was a bargirl.

After that kind of publicity, what girl would report?

and tax, you are ever the optimist. It took 25 years to change attitudes in the US and UK (and by reading some of the posts in previous threads about rapes, some haven't changed yet). What makes you think international outcry will change them in Thailand now?

[taxexile]

if people just sit back and accept injustices then nothing will ever change.

if people make a noise and express their views then little by little attitudes will change.

the fact that a bargirl was raped and nothing done about it didnt provoke some response just means it will happen again and again.

i know that a programme on uk tv about the feb. incident will hardly shake the world , but thailand is extremely sensitive to the way it is percieved and portrayed abroad , and that programme wont have gone unoticed by those in the thai embassy in london , who will have made a report that will filter back to bangkok , and eventually end up on the desk of a police colonel who will get on the phone to his counterpart in samui and ask him to perhaps do things a little differently next time .

if there was a programme every night about crime involving foriegners in thailand , then things would change.

as far as attitudes to rape are concerned , it is up to womens groups to stand up and shout , but there is just so much spineless acceptance of injustices in thailand that , as you say , things will change , but very slowly. its a cultural thing , but i am at a loss to understand it.

and i maintain that if a bargirl accused a falang of raping her on a beach then the police would act.

Edited September 19, 2006 by taxexile

[sbk]

tax, my only argument is that yes, Thailand might change its policies in order to look better in the eyes of the intl community but changing people's cultural perceptions takes alot more than a few weeks of international outcry.

I believe that perceptions are changing in Thailand, albeit slowly but then it is quite clear that those perceptions changed rather slowly in the West too. It is alot to ask of a country to play 25 years of catch-up in a few years.

[Charma]

I too don't see the Thai police changing very much in the near future. But TV programmes can have a positive effect. The UK police were particualrly shaken by a Thames TV documentary in the early 1980's. It followed the investigation of a rape by two male detectives. They behaved dreadfully towards the victim, basically disbeleiving her story, shouting at her and accusing her of lying, encouraging her attacker etc. It was so bad that rape investigation has never been the same since. A massive re-training programme followed, policies were changed and specialist officers were introduced (mostly female) to support victims during an investigation.

I do not think a foriegn TV programme would have that effect in Thailand, but would a domestic one? There are two reasons I do not think it would happen:

1. Thai TV would probably not want to disgrace their police force
   
2. Thai males dominate the society to such an extent that an outcry would probably not happen in any case
   

[Losangels]

I do not think a foriegn TV programme would have that effect in Thailand, but would a domestic one? There are two reasons I do not think it would happen:

1. Thai TV would probably not want to disgrace their police force
   
2. Thai males dominate the society to such an extent that an outcry would probably not happen in any case
   

A documentary about the police by foreign or Thai would be extremely difficult to be on TV because of censorship. The police up to recently had the authority to censor "indecent" contents in movies and television although now I think its done by the film board. I do feel that the police has still a lot of influence on what is acceptable.