Reign of terror ends: Police nab notorious serial rapist in Chon Buri

A notorious serial rapist with a longstanding criminal history has been apprehended by police in Chon Buri.

Police Major General Teeradej Thumsutee, investigation chief at the Metropolitan Police Bureau, informed the press that a man known as Wattana Srikhaney, also recognisable under the alias Tum Chonburi, was taken into custody following his assault on a woman in the Ko Chan district of the province on May 14.

Wattana, who had been using the Omi app to identify and track his victims, tied himself to a string of similar rape cases. In a disturbing modus operandi, he would rob his victims post-assault. One instance disclosed a female who was sexually violated at a rice field’s edge and left there naked. Other cases involved victims who were not only raped but also robbed of their cash, gold chains, smartphones, and other invaluable items.

The arrested individual’s criminal history extends a span starting from 2009 to the present day. He has frequented the jail on multiple occasions over the years, building up an imposing criminal record. On January 29, 2009, he was accused of raping a woman in the Phanat Nikhom district within Chon Buri. A repeat offence surfaced two years later in the identical district.

There were intermittent instances of his arrest for theft in the same district back in February 2009. In June 2017, he was charged with drug-related misconduct in the Si Racha district within Chon Buri. This charge was replicated the following month in the Khlong Luang district of Pathum Thani.

Progressing to April of the current year, Wattana perpetrated both rape and theft within Bangkok’s Lat Krabang district, specifically in the Chorakhe Noi area. Subsequently, in May, he assaulted another victim in the Ko Chan district of Chon Buri, marking the location of his eventual arrest. Police declared that the suspect acted under the ruse of portraying himself as a ‘nice guy’ in his online approaches.

By offering to accompany his targets on dates, he would successfully lure victims into his trap before carrying out the planned criminal activities.

Under Section 276. Rape: Whoever has sexual intercourse with a woman, who is not wife, against her will, by threatening by any means whatever, by doing any act of violence, by taking advantage of the woman being in the condition of inability to resist, or by causing the woman to mistake him for the other person, shall be punished with imprisonment of four to 20 years and fined of 8,000 to 40,000 baht.