UPDATE
THE taxi driver, a former staffer at a five-star Phuket resort, surrendered to police this afternoon but denied any molestation. He tested positive for drugs. One arm was scratched, as the young woman said. She comes from Shanghai and had been visiting friends in Singapore for two weeks.
Original Report
PHUKET: A young Chinese tourist claims an illegal taxi driver tried to rape her and kept her a prisoner in his locked cab for hours after picking her up from Phuket International Airport yesterday.
The 19-year-old tourist's account has been corroberated by two Thai women who helped her to escape the clutches of the taxi driver and took her to Tourist Police headquarters.
However, the women said Tourist Police were reluctant to record the tourist's claim that she was sexually accosted. Eventually the women took the tourist to Phuket City Police Station, where police took details - but later returned the case to the jurisdiction of the Tourist Police.
The 19-year-old tourist's account confirms allegations that there are thugs among Phuket's taxi drivers, and that some Phuket law officers appear reluctant to enforce the law in cases where tourists are victims.
Phuketwan contacted the Chinese deputy consul in Hua Hin today and he said that Phuket police had so far neglected to inform him about the case.
Honorary consuls say standards of notification about deaths and crimes involving expat residents and tourists have slipped since the regular quarterly meetings with Phuket's governnor and local officials ceased last September.
The Chinese woman told both Tourist Police and officers at Phuket City station that she had been grabbed on the breast by the taxi driver.
He tried to kiss her and drove around the island with her as a prisoner, locked in the car, telling her she would not be freed until she had had sex with him.
After being picked up at 4.30pm at Phuket International Airport, the taxi eventually ran out of fuel at 9pm and the driver left her locked in the cab while he went to buy a bottle of fuel from a roadside vendor.
One of the women involved in rescuing the young Chinese tourist spoke to Phuketwan this afternoon on condition that she remain anonymous because of fears of repercussions from the taxi driver.
''We saw this young woman having an argument with the driver of a vehicle parked in Soi Paneang [in Samkong, a suburb of Phuket City].
''The woman was extremely agitated and we thought it must be a dispute between father and daughter, until we noted the large piece of luggage in the back.
''My friend and I went over to ask if everything was OK and the young woman said 'Help me! Help me! This man is trying to rape me!' in Chinese.
''Fortunately my friend speaks Chinese. The taxi driver said he had been driving the woman around for hours because she didn't know where she wanted to go.
[The tourist said she paid the driver 550 baht to take her to a specific hotel in Patong.]
''The driver said he wanted an extra 100 baht because she had caused him so much trouble, and that was what the argument was about.''
After a discussion that grew more heated, the tourist paid the driver an extra 100 baht and he rode off, swearing loudly at the three women.
The women took the tourist to Tourist Police headquarters where an officer listened but did not note down the allegations of attempted rape.
The women ended up taking the young tourist to Phuket City Police Station, where her allegations were written down. When the interview had finished, the women took the tourist to her hotel in Patong.
Phuket City Superintendent Colonel Sermpan Sirikong said today that the allegations had been passed back to Tourist Police to investigate because the alleged sexual molestation took place at an undetermined part of Phuket.
Tourist Police Inspector Captain Urumporn, who oversees both Phuket and Phang Nga, said today his officers would pursue the matter.
He called back later to say a suspect had been arrested but that the man denies the allegations.
good hearted taxi driver drives all around phuket for 550 baht to help her find hotel and runs out of fuel doing so . . . can anyone seriously believe that.
Posted by slickmelb on May 18, 2013 15:33