Phuket van driver confesses to raping Ukrainian woman
Phuket police officers arrested a Thai van driver over the rape of a 20 year old Ukrainian woman yesterday, April 6.
The Ukrainian woman filed a complaint with Patong Police Station at about 5.30am, saying a Thai man forced her into a van and raped her in Phuket town. Police later tracked down the suspect, identified only as 43 year old Sukan.
The woman told police she had booked an app-based motorcycle taxi from a hotel on Si Sunthon Road in Thalang district to Phuket town to meet a friend. After arriving, she was unable to contact her friend as she did not have an internet package on her phone.
She said she walked along the street looking for her friend and a wifi connection before meeting the suspect. According to her statement, she asked him to share a mobile hotspot so she could contact her friend, and he agreed.
While she was using her phone, the man pulled her into his van and raped her, according to police. The woman said he later dropped her at a rented house in Kathu district, which was believed to be the place where she had planned to meet her friend.
Police investigated the case and arrested Sukan at a snooker club in Ratsada subdistrict. Officers said he confessed to the rape and also tested positive for drugs.
Police said the suspect had moved from Phang Nga to work in Phuket. They did not specify the charge filed against him.
Based on a previous similar case, the van driver could face four to 20 years in prison and a fine of 80,000 to 400,000 baht under Section 276 of the Criminal Law for rape involving violence or taking advantage of a person unable to resist.
The case follows other recent sexual assault cases involving public transport drivers. Last month, two motorcycle taxi riders were accused of abducting and raping a teenage girl with learning disabilities, while in February, a taxi driver raped an intoxicated passenger at a hotel in Bangkok.
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