PATTAYA: Police have arrested a man who allegedly tried to rape and rob a Chinese tourist near a roadside forest beside Siam Country Club in Pattaya City, Chonburi province on the night of Feb 18.
The 29-year-old Chinese woman identified as Meilin alerted police officers at Nong Prue station on Sunday (Feb 18) that she had been attacked and robbed by a Thai man. She said the suspect, along with another Thai man, had offered her and her brother a ride while they were waiting for public transport on Sattahip-Nakhon Ratchasima Road, about 10km. from the crime scene.
The woman said she and her brother agreed to go with the two men to the South Pattaya area on separate motorcycles, but the man on whose motorbike she was riding took a different route, forced her off the vehicle and then tried to rape her.
When the rape attempt proved unsuccessful, the man tied her hands and legs, took her cash of 15,000 baht and 15,000 Chinese yuan, and set the grass around the scene on fire to destroy the evidence before fleeing the scene.
Police tracked down the motorcycle to a house in Rayong province and arrested Thip Phasiri, a 41-year-old Thai man. The victim confirmed via a photograph that Thip was the man who had attempted to rape her.
Police said after checking records, they discovered that the suspect might have been involved in a robbery reported earlier in the same area.
The victim in the other case, a caddy at a golf course in Chonburi, said she was riding a motorcycle down the Sattahip-Nakhon Ratchasima Road when a man rode up to her, snatched her purse and kicked her bike causing it to fall. - The Nation/ANN
