Tourist raped on Koh Samui

KOH SAMUI: A 26-year-old Norwegian tourist was allegedly raped by a sorng taew (local bus) driver around midnight yesterday. The woman, identified by police as Gry Slaem, told police that she had been drinking with a friend and had fallen asleep. When she woke, her friend was gone and she did not know the way back to her room at the Poppy Bungalow on Chaweng Beach. She asked sorng taew driver Sompong Posin, 43, to take her there. At first, Ms Slaem sat in the back of the bus, but after five minutes Sompong stopped the vehicle and suggested she sit in the front with him. Further along the road, he turned into a coconut plantation. “Sompong forced her to lie down on the front seat and hit her so that she would not resist when he raped her,” said Pol Maj Watcharapong Praipan of Koh Samui Police Station. Afterwards, Sompong took her back to her hotel and drove away. Ms Slaem consulted with her friend and decided to report to the police a few hours after the incident. Sompong was arrested and denied the charge. But, said Pol Maj Watcharapong, he was later identified by Ms Slaem. He is currently being held in the police station jail, awaiting trial. Ms Slaem has been in Koh Samui for about a week and was due to leave Thailand with her friend this afternoon. However, she told police that she would return to Koh Samui to testify at Sompong’s trial.