Police await DNA result after rape
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POLICE ARE focusing on DNA results to solve a case in which a man allegedly raped a 73-year-old woman at her home early on Sunday.
The decision is based on the belief that the suspect is a serial rapist who police are already hunting in relation to nine other similar attacks.
DNA results for the previous nine cases have already confirmed that the attacker is the same man. Most victims were in the 70s and two of them were murdered.
“These rapes took place between 2010 and 2015,” Crime Suppression Division’s acting commander Colonel Akaradej Pimonsri said yesterday.
He said police were narrowing the scope of the area where the suspect may have gone into hiding.
“We expect to arrest him soon,” police spokesman Maj-General Prawut Thawornsiri said.
Provincial Police Region 7 chief Lt-General Weerapong Cheunpakdee yesterday instructed his deputy Pol Maj-General Surachai Kuantechakupt to spearhead efforts to prevent such crimes from recurring.
“We need to identify isolated homes and dispatch patrolmen to keep an eye on the area,” he said.
Police would also work with local community leaders to persuade elderly women who live alone to move in with relatives if possible, at least until the suspect is arrested.
Weerapong said the suspect was believed to have watched his latest victim for a while before carrying out the attack.
“He usually uses something from the victim’s house as a weapon [to intimidate the women],” he said.
