A JUDGE ordered the taxi driver to be held without bail on Monday after being told by the man that he needed to work. ''Others may be out of work if what you've done is proved. You have damaged Phuket's reputation,'' the judge said. The taxi driver denied all charges and was remanded without bail.


PHUKET: A young tourist from Shanghai has told for the first time how she was held captive and sexually molested by a Phuket taxi driver.

The driver, Paitoon Kruain, 32, who previously worked at a five-star resort, was due to appear in Phuket Provincial Court today.

He faces charges of abduction, attempted rape, taking drugs and not having a licence to operate a taxi.

The 19-year-old Chinese tourist told Phuketwan at the weekend that she had been working in marketing for two years for a company that had its headquarters in Singapore.

Because she had made so many friends in the firm there, she went to Singapore and enjoyed a two-week holiday.

She was due to fly back to Shanghai via Bangkok this Thursday so she decided to take a short break on Phuket.

She flew from Changi Airport to Phuket International Airport on a Jetstar flight that landed at 4.15pm on Friday.

''I went out and checked the taxi prices,'' she said, ''and I noticed the fare to Patong was listed on a sign as being 650 baht.''

She said she left the terminal and was quoted a price of 700 baht at the taxi-limo counter. ''But the sign says 650 baht,'' she told the person at the counter.

The taxi driver at this stage positioned himself at her shoulder.

''I'll take you to Patong for 600 baht,'' he told her. ''How about 550 baht?'' she said. ''OK, 550,'' he replied.

The luggage went in the back and she sat alongside the driver, common practise in Shanghai and many other cities around the world.

As the taxi swung out of the airport, the driver stopped almost immediately at a 7-Eleven store where he bought water and a can of beer.

He drank the beer as they drove along, stopping in Thalang at a Shell service station on Thepkasatttri Road.

There he asked her for 200 baht to cover the cost of some petrol, which she handed to him.

The young woman had the gps working on her iPhone and a map of Phuket as well, so she was able to track the movements of the taxi.

''We went to the hotel in Patong but he kept on driving,'' she said. ''He did not drop me off. The central lock was on.

''He drove on and we went to Kalim, Karon and Kata, and around Patong's one-way system more than once,'' she said.

''As night fell he put his hand on my thigh and at first I thought it was accidental. But then he grabbed at my breasts and lifted my dress, with one hand stil on the wheel.

''I said 'Stop! Stop! He told me he would let me go if I kissed him or held his private parts.''

The woman said that at this stage she was very scared, and scratched his arm when next he tried to grab her.

''I took one shoe off to beat him if he touched me again,'' she said. The taxi next stopped at the Caltex service station in central Kathu where he asked for more money and she gave him 250 baht.

The cab's petrol eventualy ran out at 9pm in the Samkong district of Phuket City. By chance, two women sitting having noodles noticed the distress of the young woman.

When the taxi pulled up and the driver left the cab to buy a bottle of fuel, his reluctant passenger took the opportunity to go to a 7-Eleven store and bought a local sim card. ''I was planning to call the police,'' she said. ''But the sim card didn't fit my iPhone.''

The driver asked for 100 baht more to pay for petrol and, as the two argued, the two women intervened. A short time later, the driver headed off alone, uttering obscenities at all three women.