Bus driver charged with rape
A bus driver has been arrested after allegedly raping a Burmese woman on a trip between Phuket and Bangkok.
Tuesday 17 May 2011, 02:57AM
He also faces charges for drugs and hiding illegal migrant workers.
Police from the Division of Child Welfare & Women, led by Supt Col Supat Pheungphuang, held a press conference last Thursday (May 12) to announce the arrest of Jiradech Laesoong, a 35-year old from Phang Nga province.
He is charged with raping a 21-year-old Burmese illegal worker, known only as “Miss B”, on the way from Phuket to Bangkok on May 11.
Jiradech told police he had been hired to smuggle illegal workers by hiding them in the driver’s quarters of his bus. He said he received B1,700 per person he transported, and had already made five similar trips.
He admitted to raping Miss B, but said it was the first time he had committed such a crime.
Miss B was found by police in a traumatised state beside Karnchana Bhisek road in Bangkok. Officers checked the area and found Jiradech acting suspiciously in the nearby bus parking lot.
Police tested him for drugs and found amphetamines (ya ba) in his system. He said he had taken five ya ba pills before raping Miss B twice.
Miss B later identified him as the person who had raped her on the bus.
Jiradech has been charged with rape, drug consumption and hiding illegal migrant workers. Police are now hunting his employer.
