Chumpon plantation owner faces accusations of child sex abuse
“Jan said ‘Surin’ often took her daughter to his home. When the girl was seven years old, however, it was revealed that ‘Surin’ had allegedly molested or raped her over the previous five years.”
In the latest in a string of serious child abuse cases, relatives of the alleged victims, in this case three girls aged 6, 10 and 14 and a 9 year old boy from the same family, fear they won’t get justice.
The male suspect, allegedly the head of a rubber plantation in Chumphon’s Lang Suan district, is now on bail and is accused of threatening the family.
The 14 year old victim’s 52 year old mother Jan (not her real name) also claimed that the 50 year old suspect – identified only as ‘Surin’ – has threatened her family after he was was earlier arrested for allegedly raping and sexually molesting the children over a number of years, but later was released on bail.
Chumphon police chief Pol Maj General Sajarat Saksilpchai, said he had instructed the case investigator to proceed with legal action against the suspect for the alleged victim intimidation and to gather tighter evidence to prosecute him for the alleged sex crimes.
Jan said that she, her husband and their teenage son and two-year-old daughter, moved from Sakhon Nakhon in 2007 to find rubber tapping jobs in Sawi district. They got to know plantation owner Surin who was kind to the family and invited them to build a shack on his land in tambon Bang Maphrao of Lang Suan district, she said.
Jan said Surin often took her daughter to his home. When the girl was seven years old, however, it was revealed that Surin had allegedly molested or raped her over the previous five years.
Jan said that Surin then offered 20,000 baht to hide the scandal and she accepted as her family lived on Surin’s land and she tried to block Surin from taking advantage of the girl again.
The girl claimed, however, that she continued to be a target of Surin’s alleged sexual advances.
In February this year, Jan said she found out that her 9 year old nephew had allegedly been raped and her two grand-daughters had allegedly avoided Surin’s sexual advances on multiple occasions.
Because of the latest incidents, Jan said she filed a police complaint. She said a medical examination of all four children backed her allegations. She said her family has now moved out of the area to stay on another community leader’s land.
Jan claimed that she decided to come forwards to tell the story to Thai journalists this week because Surin allegedly had some men, driving in a van, shown the four children’s photos to the villagers in her new neighborhood earlier this week, as to ask for a direction to the family’s new home – which was a threatening gesture that made the family worried they might not get justice.
SOURCE: The Nation
