Officers from the Phuket City Police led by Lt Tawan Nuankaew arrested the man, named on his non-Thai national ID card as Nyi Nyi Naing, age 42, at a rented house off Srisuthat Rd, in Moo 7, Rassada, on the way to the fishing port area, at about 12:35pm.
In placing Nyi Nyi Naing under arrest, officers presented arrest warrant No. 264/2564 issued by the Phuket Provincial Court yesterday (Sept 21) in relation to Criminal Case No. 2321/2564.
Nyi Nyi Naing was taken to Phuket City Police Station for questioning and to be charged with rape under Section 276 of the Criminal Code, which states, “Anyone who forcibly commits intercourse with another by threatening in whatever manner, by exercising forcible violence, whilst the latter is being in a state of unable to resist, or by making the latter mistake him for a different person, incurs a penalty of imprisonment from four years to twenty years and fine from eight thousand baht to forty thousand baht.”**
The arrest came after the victim, a 47-year-old Thai woman originally from Sa Kaeo, went public about her ordeal, posting on a well-known Facebook page details of how she was deceived to arrive at the house to work as a maid and then raped and held captive throughout the night of Aug 27.
She also accused the police of inaction in investigating her attacker after she reported the incident the next day.
Before the police placed Nyi Nyi Naing under arrest yesterday, reporters had already arrived at the woman’s house, also located on the east side of Phuket Town, at about 10am to interview her.
The woman presented the police complaint filed and the medical report of her examination at Phuket Provincial Hospital, also located in Rassada, attesting to her physical injuries.
The woman explained that a friend had told her that Nyi Nyi Naing was looking for a person to do his laundry and ironing. When she arrived at the house she was greeted and a meal was waiting ready for her.
However, after talking about the work, he launched into an attack and repeatedly punched and kicked her, she said.
He threatened her to call the police, saying that they would not do anything because he already paid them a lot of money, she added.
Nyi Nyi Naing works as a migrant labour broker, providing workers for fishing boats in Phuket.
Throughout that night, from 9pm to 4am, she was raped and repeatedly beaten, the woman explained.
At one time he covered her mouth with tape. He also placed a clear plastic bag over her head and threatened her with a knife, she said.
After her attacker had fallen asleep, she searched but found no way to escape as the door to the house was locked.
Finally, after about 9am, Nyi Nyi Naing’s colleagues arrived at the house to wake him for work. When he left he forgot to tell his subordinates to lock the door, she added.
She made her way around to the back of the house to avoid the neighbours from seeing her just as a precaution, she continued. She walked barefoot to a friend’s place nearby.
Her friend took her to Phuket City Police Station to report her ordeal. The officer who attended to her only received her complaint and gave her a form to be completed by doctors confirming a medical examination had been performed, she added.
She was left to go to the hospital by herself, the woman noted.
The woman’s account of her ordeal posted on Facebook spurred outrage online.
MajChakkrit Thammaraksa of the Phuket City Police responded online, posted publicly as a comment that he had received the complaint and an investigation was underway.
Officers were collecting evidence in order to obtain an arrest warrant so that her attacker could be arrested, he said.
** CORRECTION: The section of the Crimnial Code originally quoted in the story was outdated. The error is sincerely regretted. The Criminal Code Amendment Act (No.19) B.E. 2550 (2007) expanded the definition of rape to cover raping of people of all sexes, all types of sexual penetration, and criminalization of marital rape and imposes more severe penalties on offenders who engaged in all forms of rape and sexual abuses. The Act removed the previous distinction under section 276 of the Penal Code which had limited rape to sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who is not his wife, thus allowing a husband to rape his wife with impunity.