Aussie tourist who cried ‘rape’ in Phuket deported today

PHUKET: Stevie Rochelle Bamford, the 21-year-old woman convicted of falsely reporting that she was raped in Patong, was deported to her native Australia today.

Patong Police escorted Ms Bamford to Phuket Immigration Headquarters at midday in preparation for her return flight. The officer escorting her said Ms Bamford was scheduled to board a flight home with her boyfriend this afternoon.

Ms Bamford was detained at the Baan Bang Jo Detention Center in Thalang for 15 days after confessing to having falsely reported being raped by tuk-tuk drivers.

Phuket Provincial Prison Chief Rapin Nichanon confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that Ms Bamford was released from the Bang Jo Detention Center on July 18, as scheduled, and driven to freedom by a member of the Patong Police.

An investigations officer at Phuket Immigration told the Gazette that Ms Bamford planned to fly back to Australia today after all the deportation documents were processed.

In the event that Ms Bamford, 21, chooses to return to the Land of Smiles in the future, there will be no obstacles to her doing so.

Phuket Immigration chief Panuwat Ruamrak confirmed that, unlike many other deportees, Ms Bamford had not been blacklisted from re-entering the Kingdom.

— Atchaa Khamlo