Video evidence: Thai monk gropes sleeping passenger’s breasts

Another Thai monk disgraced his Buddhist faith by sexually assaulting a woman while travelling from Bangkok to Chon Buri on a bus, by groping her breasts when she fell asleep.

The victim, 67 year old Siriporn Kamnok, took to social media to warn women travelling alone on public transport to be aware of sexual assaults, even from a monk. Siriporn included a video of the incident, which was recorded by a witness on the bus, in her post.

In the video, the monk was seen sitting behind Siriporn’s seat. He put his hand into a gap between Siriporn’s seat and the window to touch her breasts. The monk noticed that the witness was recording his actions but did not stop and faced the witness with wild eyes.

Siriporn told Channel 7 that she took the coach bus from Bangkok back to her home province in Chon Buri. She was sleepy and dozed off along the way but was awakened by the sexual assault.

Siriporn explained that she felt a finger touching her breasts when she fell asleep and woke up. She then sat straight and avoided leaning against the window as she did before. The monk did not dare to repeat the assault when he saw Siriporn was awake.

After the monk got off the bus, the female witness approached her and shared the video of the assault with her. The witness told Siriporn that she saw all of the monk’s actions but did not dare to notify Siriporn because the monk gave her angry looks.

Siriporn revealed that she did not file a complaint against the monk and opted to share the story on social media to warn other women who travelled alone.

This is not an isolated case. Almost every week a story makes headlines of badly-behaved monks.

In related news, an ex-monk from Uthai Thani is embroiled in a major scandal, facing serious allegations of physical violence and coercing his ex-girlfriend into a compromising video call. This incident resulted in the unauthorised distribution of her naked images within his temple community.

Meanwhile, last week, a drug-addicted Thai monk joined the illustrious list of monastic figures behaving disgracefully in Thailand when he was arrested yesterday for avoiding a 1,300 petrol station bill and crashing his car into a police motorcycle and a baht bus in the Isaan province of Maha Sarakham.

In other news, another Thai woman took to social media to share a video of a man masturbating and sexually harassing her from a seat next to her on a public bus from Bangkok to Nakhon Nayok. The victim said she did not dare to scream for help or run away, fearing the man might have a hidden weapon.

The victim also chose not to file a complaint with the police and instead shared the video of the incident on social media to warn others to stay away from the man.