Police seek Lao help to find rape suspect

Police said the suspect, identified in an arrest warrant as Poompui Kesanuch, had used a knife to threaten the 25-year-old woman, then punched and raped her at the back of the hospital building where she had brought bed sheets for laundering about 8.30pm on Sunday. 
Nong Khai Immigration chief Pol Colonel Pallop Suriyakul Na Ayudhaya said provincial police had submitted Poompui’s arrest warrant to border checkpoint officers. He had already asked his subordinates to contact their Lao counterparts to help locate the suspect.
On Wednesday morning, deputy superintendent Pol Lt-Colonel Atthasak Siripanich led a team to the Wat Sri Boon Reung pier on the bank of Mekong River, where they were told that Poompui stole a water scooter from a local club and rode it towards Laos. A scooter, along with a life vest, was found drifting near the Lao shore on Tuesday morning by a fisherman who then alerted the club president, Nipon Polwiset. 
Nipon told police that he was confident Poompui stole the water scooter because he often hung around the pier and watched them.
Police said that Poompui – who was described as a homeless man keen on drinking alcohol and picking fights when drunk – has a Lao father and a Thai mother, so they believe he has fled to stay with his father.
It was also reported that Poompui had fled to Laos in 2012 after her assaulted an elderly person from whom he had tried to extort money to buy alcohol. This attack led to the victim’s death.
The suspect returned to Nong Khai in 2015, and was captured and jailed for four months for that crime. He was released on grounds of mental illness. 
In May, Poompui allegedly raped a woman who went looking for crabs in a rice field.