Gang-rape victim ‘identifies perpetrators’
A YOUNG victim of alleged gang rapes in Phang Nga correctly identified nine suspects from a police line-up yesterday.
More than 30 men were mixed in with the nine suspects during the identification sessions at the Kok Kloi Police Station in Phang Nga’s Takua Thung district but the girl, who is now 15, still correctly pointed at the suspects twice in a row.
However, the suspects refused to accept the results of identification process, claiming that police used tricks to help the girl point out the suspects.
“I have advised my clients not to accept the results. Apparently police did not call the suspects by name into the identification room but called all the others in by name,” said Sanpetch Thipmontien, a lawyer for the accused men.
Phang Nga police chief Pol Maj-General Boontawee Toraksa insisted that the identification sessions so far had been conducted in line with prescribed standards.
The victim has told police that the alleged gang rapes continued for months last year and involved about 40 perpetrators. She spoke up about her ordeal in full only after her family was relocated out of Ban Koh Raed, where the attacks allegedly occurred.
Many community members in Ban Koh Raed have complained about the negative publicity that the girl’s case has brought to their hometown. They feel that the scandal has ruined their village’s reputation and directly affected their lives. Given that Ban Koh Raed is a small village, local men feel bad that outsiders are judging them.
Arrest warrants have already been issued for 11 suspects aged between 23 and 69. Some of them are now out on bail, including Nawik Jaruek, whose family submitted Bt460,000 in assets to secure his release pending the investigation. Two of the 11 suspects were locked up at the Phang Nga Police Station yesterday and could not take part in the identification sessions.
Muslims for Peace Foundation representative Chanon Abdullah said yesterday that the girl was still shaken and stressed.
In a related development, police searched a hut near the Ban Koh Raed pier where an alleged gang rape took place to gather latent fingerprints, fallen hair and other potential evidence.
