Italian man fined 3000 baht for showing genitals to children
Police nabbed an Italian man who was attempting to flee Thailand after being accused of showing his genitals to children in Pattaya. Police caught up with him just as he was boarding a flight out of Thailand and took him into custody. But he was let go after he paid a 3,000 baht fine and was told not to come back and do it again.
The 49 year old was not named, but his nationality was revealed as Italian. After the father of some alleged child victims filed a police report, the man fled Pattaya to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Christmas Day and tried to board a flight departing Thailand at 12.30pm.
Chon Buri Police and immigration grabbed him, pulled him off the flight and brought him back to Bang Lamung Police Station. The Italian man was probably quite relieved to get let off, scot-free with a warning and a small fine.
The investigation began when a 34 year old Thai man with several young daughters and a son said he was driving with five young children – four girls and one boy – in the back of his pickup truck when he witnessed the Italian man on a motorbike flashing his genitals at the children and masturbating. The man says he saw it but he believed his children were unaware of the lewd act the man was performing.
It sounds like a wild claim, but the Thai father has the video to back it up. The Pattaya News reports that his video clearly captures the Italian man showing his genitals and grabbing them while riding his motorbike. When he finishes, he drives away.
Immigration and police confirmed that the Italian man entered Thailand on September 29 of this year on a non-immigrant visa. He was residing near the Raiwanasin Market in the Nong Prue subdistrict of Bang Lamung. No further information was made available about his stay in Thailand, and the man declined to make any comments to the press.
He is said to have admitted to acting indecently in public and was slapped with a meagre 3,000 baht fine as punishment. Police say they have documented the incident and if the Italian man comes back to Thailand and is caught committing sexually indecent acts in front of children, he will have his visa revoked.
