Tourist falls off ravine during escape from sexual harassment

“There’s hope for recovery, but it will take quite a long time,” Dr Chaiyuth Sutheerayongprasert, a member of the team that operated on her spine at Bangkok Hospital Phuket, said yesterday.
She is receiving treatment at the surgical critical care unit.
She could move her hands normally but had limited mobility in her legs, he said.
She was in good spirits, considering the severity of her condition.
According to the Phuket Gazette, the man who attempted to molest her, identified as Apai Ruangwong, has been charged with committing obscene behaviour toward another person and causing serious injury.
“He said that he had known the victim for a day. He volunteered to walk her to her place, but couldn’t stop himself from touching her inappropriately.
“The victim was frightened and ran away to escape him,” Piyapong Boonkaew, superintendent of Ao Nang Police Station, told the Phuket Gazette.
Apai called rescue workers for his victim, who fell off the high cliff, the officer said.
It was only on Friday that rescue workers could reach her.
She was rushed to a local hospital and then transferred to Bangkok Hospital Phuket for surgery.
Her parents flew in from the United States to be with their daughter yesterday.
Doctors said the young American would have to be hospitalised at least seven more days before she could be transferred somewhere else.