Bangkok motorcycle taxi rider arrested for attempted rape and kidnap of a teenage student
A motorcycle taxi driver, Somsak Jangsat, was arrested in the Phra Khanong area of Bangkok yesterday after he tried to rape a teenage girl.
Somsak tricked the 17 year old student into using his taxi service saying he would take her home after school but instead kidnapped the girl and took her to a love motel where he tried to rape her.
The victim had used the taxi rider yesterday morning to go to school, and when he offered to pick her up and take her home after classes finished she accepted because other riders had done this before and it was difficult to find a taxi after school in rush-hour traffic.
The rider was waiting for her in front of the school but after the pickup claimed he had to make a detour home on the way. Instead, he took her to a hotel in Soi Phumjit on Rama 4 Road.
Realizing his plan, the girl tried to flee only to be forced into the hotel by the man holding a Stanley knife-like blade to her throat. The teenager fell into the hotel room and managed to escape the kidnapper’s clutches and flee the scene.
The rider pursued her and a screaming argument was heard by nearby witnesses, who believed the disturbance was a domestic incident because the rider shouted “It’s a problem between husband and wife.”
Fortunately, a witness recorded the incident in front of the hotel and handed the video evidence to the police. The footage features a man in a motorbike taxi uniform No. 41 trying to pull the female student inside a hotel. From the conversation in the video, the rider pretended the student was his wife. The student was crying and screaming for help. The rider realized situation was getting out of hand and fled the scene, stealing the student’s mobile phone in the process.
Somsak was later arrested at a temple near the incident. The rider confessed to police that he intended to assault the student but didn’t mean to steal her assets. He says he threw the girl’s phone into a nearby canal.
Police officers from Khlong Ton Police Station, and a rescue team, visited the area after being notified of the sexual assault. The officers announced the student was sitting in front of the hotel being comforted by some residents. She was frightened and had some bruises and scratches on her body.
The police informed media they are still investigating the case and want to further question the student and rider in more detail before charging the man.
