PHUKET: Police in Patong are anxious to obtain more information to clarify claims by a British tourist that she was raped by a Phuket tuk-tuk driver.
Security camera footage from Patong's famous walking street, Soi Bangla, has so far failed to support the account given to police by the woman, Kathu Police Station Superintendent Colonel Arayapan Pukbuakao, said today.
''The woman says she was picked up by a tuk-tuk at the top end of Soi Bangla,'' Colonel Arayapan said. ''But any tuk-tuk driver who did that would face the wrath of the tuk-tuk drivers in the Jungceylon tuk-tuk rank not far away. For that reason, it just doesn't happen.
''We also have security camera footage of a woman who looks like the British tourist getting on the back of a motorcycle ridden by an expat a bit further along Rat U Tit 200 Pi Road, near the resort construction site.''
Colonel Arayapan said that Patong police were keen to establish whether a rape had been committed. The British woman's account so far lacked detail and she had yet to clarify even whether or not the rape took place in the tuk-tuk or outside.
The woman was due to leave Phuket yesterday but is staying on to try to clear up the matter, police said. It is believed she has engaged a lawyer.
''We are obliged to report all incidents involving tourists and expats to the Phuket Police Commander, Major General Pekad Tantipong, within 24 hours,'' Colonel Arayapan said.
''But in this particular case, we have so far been unable to establish with clarity precisely what happened.''
The British woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, says she hailed the tuk-tuk about 3am on Monday but instead of being taken to her hotel in Cherng Talay, two men in the tuk-tuk took her to an isolated spot south of Patong, where one of them raped her.
She has only been able to tell police that one of the men was fat while the other was thin. The thin man, the driver, raped her, she told police.
A security guard at the Absolute Sea Pearl Resort and Spa in southern Patong, spotted the woman about 4am, dressed only in a bra and shorts, walking along the beach road outside the resort.
The guard saw the woman was dishevelled and distraught, found a shirt for her, and accompanied her to Kathu Police Station, which oversees Patong and the surrounding district.
At the time the woman, said Colonel Arayapan, was unable to provide the police with all the information they required and became upset when pressed for more details.
A female Tourist Police officer has been called in since the first interview and talked to the woman, but details of the incident remain sketchy.
Police are anxious to talk to another woman who was with the British woman at The Factory in Soi Bangla earlier in the evening before leaving with an expat man, and anyone else who might be able to shed light on the case.
Officers are hoping today to obtain results of medical samples obtained when the British woman was taken to Patong Hospital on Monday, Colonel Arayapan said.
Security camera footage from Patong's famous walking street, Soi Bangla, has so far failed to support the account given to police by the woman, Kathu Police Station Superintendent Colonel Arayapan Pukbuakao, said today.
''The woman says she was picked up by a tuk-tuk at the top end of Soi Bangla,'' Colonel Arayapan said. ''But any tuk-tuk driver who did that would face the wrath of the tuk-tuk drivers in the Jungceylon tuk-tuk rank not far away. For that reason, it just doesn't happen.
''We also have security camera footage of a woman who looks like the British tourist getting on the back of a motorcycle ridden by an expat a bit further along Rat U Tit 200 Pi Road, near the resort construction site.''
Colonel Arayapan said that Patong police were keen to establish whether a rape had been committed. The British woman's account so far lacked detail and she had yet to clarify even whether or not the rape took place in the tuk-tuk or outside.
The woman was due to leave Phuket yesterday but is staying on to try to clear up the matter, police said. It is believed she has engaged a lawyer.
''We are obliged to report all incidents involving tourists and expats to the Phuket Police Commander, Major General Pekad Tantipong, within 24 hours,'' Colonel Arayapan said.
''But in this particular case, we have so far been unable to establish with clarity precisely what happened.''
The British woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, says she hailed the tuk-tuk about 3am on Monday but instead of being taken to her hotel in Cherng Talay, two men in the tuk-tuk took her to an isolated spot south of Patong, where one of them raped her.
She has only been able to tell police that one of the men was fat while the other was thin. The thin man, the driver, raped her, she told police.
A security guard at the Absolute Sea Pearl Resort and Spa in southern Patong, spotted the woman about 4am, dressed only in a bra and shorts, walking along the beach road outside the resort.
The guard saw the woman was dishevelled and distraught, found a shirt for her, and accompanied her to Kathu Police Station, which oversees Patong and the surrounding district.
At the time the woman, said Colonel Arayapan, was unable to provide the police with all the information they required and became upset when pressed for more details.
A female Tourist Police officer has been called in since the first interview and talked to the woman, but details of the incident remain sketchy.
Police are anxious to talk to another woman who was with the British woman at The Factory in Soi Bangla earlier in the evening before leaving with an expat man, and anyone else who might be able to shed light on the case.
Officers are hoping today to obtain results of medical samples obtained when the British woman was taken to Patong Hospital on Monday, Colonel Arayapan said.
