Thai Police said the Australian Embassy did not want the media to learn about the case.
-
PHUKET – A young Melbourne woman has told how she was accosted by a would-be rapist on the Thai resort island of Phuket as she enjoyed a beach party after a family wedding.
The woman says she believes her drink was spiked before a hotel security guard allegedly attempted to rape her on an isolated rocky beach near a five-star resort.
She told the Phuket-based Phuketwan online news service the attack happened after her husband had returned to their hotel room and she remained on the beach with friends.
She said after a swim at about 3am she began to feel disorientated and a security guard “sort of stopped me and kept insisting ‘your home is this way’, pointing to the dark beach area.”
“I was still insisting I want to go this way and before I knew what was happening he put his arm around me and directed me towards the beach, so quickly I didn’t have a chance to react … all of a sudden I was on the beach and he kept pulling me towards the dark coconut palms,” the woman said.
“Before I knew it, he was on me, he was holding me, pushing and pushing. His face was on me, he was kissing me and touching me. ”
The woman said despite being in shock, “I was trying to kick him. I knew that I had to get out of there or I was going to get seriously raped. I screamed ‘No! Get away from me! I go home now!’ I pushed him out of the way and ran back towards the party.”
The woman, whose name is not available, told Phuketwan she stayed on Phuket for a few days after the attack last week so she could reveal publicly to the media about what happened to her as a warning to others.
The man, Somporn Chaipan, is now in Phuket Prison, said Captain Nuchalee Longkeaw of Phuket City police, adding that he denies attempting to rape the woman.
Commander Pachara said he would have revealed the details of what happened at the resort earlier, but he was told by one of his senior officers that the Australian Embassy did not want the media to learn about the case.
Shortly after the article was published the Australian embassy responded: ”In the case you have mentioned we asked the police to respect the privacy of the victim as we usually would in a case of this nature.”