Japanese tourist raped

PATONG (Kom Chad Luek): Police yesterday charged a parasail boat employee at Patong Beach for the rape of a Japanese tourist.

The rape was reported to Pol Capt Padungpong Dooksookkaew at Kathu Police Station at 1 am yesterday.

The victim, a 24-year-old woman from Japan, told police that she was staying at a hotel on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd. While sunbathing at Patong Beach, she met a parasail boat employee who agreed to take her nightclubbing in Phuket City.

Later, after he picked her up on his motorbike, the man said he had forgotten something at home. When they reached his room, in a house for parasail staff on 50 Pi Rd, he forced himself upon her, police said.

After he let her go, the woman hired a motorbike taxi and reported the crime to the police. She was taken to Patong Hospital, where doctors confirmed she had been raped.

The rapist was identified as Somchai Thongyoo, 30, from Ao Luk District in Krabi.

Arrested at his home by a team of Kathu Police led by Pol Maj Serm Kwannimit, Somchai initially denied all charges.

He confessed only after the victim picked him out of a police line-up, police said.

In his confession, Somchai said that he was attracted to the victim. Given that she had agreed to go out with him in Phuket City, he thought the feeling was mutual.

However, after she resisted his advances he decided to rape her as he thought that she would not report the incident to the police.

Somchai was charged with raping a woman not his wife.