Mother alleges daughter, 9, raped by a village shop owner

PHUKET: A single mother lodged a complaint with the Phuket Damrongtham Center (Provincial Ombudsman’s Office) this morning, citing Tah Chat Chai Police inaction over the alleged rape of her 9-year-old daughter by a neighbor.

The Damrongtham Center received the complaint against Lt Col Rassada Kluengwong of Tah Chat Chai Police Station, claiming dereliction of duty in the investigation of the alleged rape case.

Speaking to the Phuket Gazette, the woman, who for legal reasons cannot be named, said that the incident occurred in a village in Mai Khao, at the north end of Phuket, on October 7.

“The small village shop that I own had run out of some items so I sent my daughter to a nearby shop to buy them. When she came back she was acting normally and didn’t say anything was wrong, so I didn’t guess anything bad had happened.

“After that another neighbor came to me and told me a shocking story,” said the mother.

“She told me that she had gone to the store and found nobody there. She waited and after a while saw the shopowner walk in, still zipping up his trousers. He was followed by my daughter who she saw pulling up her shorts.”

The mother immediately took her daughter to Tah Chat Chai Police Station to report the incident before taking her to Thalang Hospital for an examination.

“The result of the medical examination was that she had been raped,” the mother claimed.

“I asked my daughter if she had been raped and she admitted it that it had happened. She told me that the man threatened her to not tell anyone, but once he found out that I knew he came to my store asking me not to make a big deal of it and offered me some money.

“The reason I am here today is that I don’t want him to get away with it. I am afraid that he may rape my daughter again or someone else,” she said.

Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosuttirak was at the Damrongtham Center in person to receive the complaint.

He promised to appoint a committee to investigate the complaint.

— Atchaa Khamlo