Fruit seller charged with rape of child

PHUKET TOWN: A 53-year-old man has been arrested by Phuket Town police and charged with the repeated rape of a 13-year-old girl. The man was arrested after a Patong Beach food seller reported that her daughter had been raped a number of times by the man, a fruit merchant in the Patong area. The daughter told police that she had been invited by the man to go with him to see a movie at the Pearl Cinema in Phuket Town. During the movie, he pulled her onto his lap and touched her sexually. He then raped her, in the cinema. His attacks were repeated on a number of subsequent occasions, after each of which he gave her money and warned her not to tell anyone. The mother, questioning her daughter after noticing that she had become withdrawn and listless, learned the truth. The daughter was reluctant to tell her, she told police, because her attacker had threatened her. After his arrest, the fruit merchant told police that he had never been married, and the proximity of the young girl had caused him to have “emotions”. He admitted molesting the girl, but denied raping her. However, police say a medical inspection of the girl revealed signs that she had indeed been raped. The man was charged with rape of a minor, an offense that carries a penalty of seven years to life in jail, and/or a fine of up to 40,000 baht.