Scottish tourist gives account of Thai rape ordeal

The 20-year-old, from the Lochaber area of the Highlands, said she was dragged to a balcony by four Thai men and raped by two of them after a night  out in the city of Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

In an interview with STV, the woman hit out at the police authorities and the Thai media, both of which have named her and indicated she may be charged with wasting police time. She also said she believed her drink might have been spiked prior to the attack.

However, police chiefs said yesterday that the rape allegation was still being investigated and they were awaiting test results taken from the alleged victim at hospital.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: “The police and authorities are very humiliating. Their whole system has let me down – they’re making out that I was some drunk idiot and it was my fault, which was not the case. It just seems like a joke to them.”

She intends to travel home to Scotland this week, after the ordeal forced her to abandon plans to work as a teacher in Thailand. “It has been a horrific experience and the whole thing with the media has made it a lot worse,” she said.

The woman told how she was left bruised and battered by the attack.

“I had had a few beers at a restaurant with a friend and we moved on to a bar where I met another friend,” she said.

“I can remember a lot of that then things are unclear; I can only remember little things. I do not know if my drink had been spiked or what. There was a kerfuffle with the bouncer there and we left at around 2:45am.

“I told my friend that I would get back home fine; it was not too far away. The police have told me that I was told to leave the bar because I was too drunk, but I can’t remember if that was true.

“I was awoken on the balcony of a building around 50 metres away from the bar. The police and other people that lived nearby woke me up. At that point, I did not have a clue what had happened or what was going on, but they were saying I was still drunk.”

The woman went on: “I do not remember certain parts of what happened, and I do not remember what order they are in.

“I can remember a silver car or a pick-up truck and I think that is what the men who attacked me drove in. I remember it was raining.

“I remember there were four of them and I remember the attack happened on a concrete floor. I remember quite clearly what the two men who raped me looked like. One was wearing a black T-shirt and the other was wearing a green khaki T-shirt. He had black hair and a gap in his teeth or a tooth missing.

“They hit me in the face and on my head. There are bruises on my arms from where they held me down and my elbows and knees have been scraped.”

She added: “I’ve given three statements to the police using two different interpreters – I feel like I’m going round in circles with them. They tell me one thing and then another. They’ve said something about a bouncer at the bar taking me home and dropping me off, but he can’t remember where that was. How come no-one in nearby houses heard anything happening?

“I was screaming and shouting during the attack. There’s no chance they never heard anything. The police have said the people living nearby just thought it was a fight and didn’t do anything.”

She added: “I hope there’s some way this can be resolved. Those men need to be caught. But it seems like nothing will get done. I just really want to go home. I want to go and see my family and get proper help.”

Reports in Thailand – which include her name and photograph – claim the woman may be charged with making a false rape accusation, an allegation she denies.

Police Colonel Sompong Tiparpakul said the rape investigation would continue and officers were now awaiting forensic results.