Man arrested after allegedly raping young girl 18 years ago

A fugitive for 18 years, police just caught up with a man accused of raping a young student 18 years ago. The 42 year old man was arrested in Bangkok after evading police for nearly 2 decades since 2003 when it is alleged that he raped a young girl in Phayao in the north of Thailand.

The crime suppression division sent officers to arrest the man in Viphavadee Soi 62 in Laksi, an area in northern Bangkok. The man is alleged to have raped a student in their third year of secondary school – M3 as it’s known in Thailand.

The student’s parents filed a complaint with police in 2003 after the incident that alleged that the man met their young daughter at a celebration of Loi Krathong, the yearly world-famous lantern festival, in Phayao where he offered to take her home to her neighbouring village.

After chatting her up and gaining her trust, the man took her home but allegedly raped her on the way there. When the man learned her parents reported it to police, he fled Phayao and hadn’t been identified for the last 18 years.

The man was reported to have confessed to the crime when he was arrested in Bangkok this week, though details of his punishment and the charges he faces have not been specified.

SOURCE: ASEAN Now