THE knowledge that there could be at least five men on Phuket who probably had non-consensual sex with a British woman in what was once known as a ''gang bang'' should alarm every resident and visitor.

And if the woman had gone ahead and pressed charges, then these excuses for men could more clearly be labelled as rapists.

Phuket's shame is that today it's probably too late to know whether the accused Swedes and Thais committed this heinous crime.

However, Phuketwan has been told that at every stage of the process, the 23-year-old woman was given the opportunity to press charges. More than once, she considered the suggestion of giving police a full statement, but rejected the option on each occasion.

It was her decision, and her decision alone, to fly home within 48 hours of the alleged rape, and she was in the care of consular officials during that time, Phuketwan has been told by reliable sources.

Police in Patong treated the woman with the utmost consideration and professional respect, sources said today, and at no stage was there any suggestion that her lack of a work permit and a current visa was an issue.

As a group, Phuket's honorary consuls are concerned to make sure that visitors and residents are better protected, and a rape crisis centre, separate to police stations, is among the suggestions.

Such a sanctuary, common in some other countries, would give women better hope of a sympathetic hearing, a speedy recovery, and a just outcome.

It's reckoned that for every rape that is reported, there are probably 10 more that go unreported. And it's even more difficult when the victim is a tourist.

Not only can a court case involving rape be a harrowing ordeal, it also consumes time and energy that many women do not have.

Most of them opt to go home, leaving Phuket with the horrible likelihood that there are men in our midst who have gotten away with rape. Some may consider travellers especially soft targets.

Police said today that the British woman appeared to be severely traumatised by the encounter. ''We asked her several times over three days whether she wished to press charges,'' a senior officer said.

''But she knew one of the men quite well, and that made it difficult for her to press charges against him as well as the others.''

The men were waiting in a room when a Swede she knew took her back there after a drunken night out.

''We investigate every alleged rape,'' the officer said. ''But there is only so much we can do.''

The woman was clearly exposed to continuing danger on Phuket and consular officials acceded to her request to fly back to Britain.

In an account of what can happen on Phuket, Australian honorary consul Larry Cunningham told Phuketwan in 2008 that rape attacks on Phuket and in Phi Phi are probably more common than is acknowledged.

Cunningham found one case particularly horrifying: the holiday rape of a young Australian student.

As Cunningham tells it, the young woman came to Phuket with university friends who went out one night on a drinking binge in Patong. The young woman got so drunk that she could not stand up.

Instead of taking her back to their hotel, putting her to bed, then going back to the drinking, a task that would have taken about 20 minutes, her friends loaded her into the back of a tuk-tuk.

''The girl was so drunk she fell over face first in the back of the tuk-tuk, so they took her and sat her beside the driver in the front and said 'Please take her to the hotel. Here's the money for the fare.' Then they went back to partying,'' Cunningham says.

''The tuk-tuk driver took the girl to a secluded area and sexually assaulted her, then dropped her back at the hotel.''

Cunningham says the attitude of the so-called ''friends'' remained disheartening.

What was not reported at the time was that the young woman returned to Phuket with her family, identified the man involved, and went through a court case that saw him jailed for 10 years.

It cost the family $A30,000 to see justice done. With five or more possible rapists free on Phuket's streets, you'd have to say it's a pity that kind of action cannot take place more often.