Swede Suspected Of Five Year Old Rape In Thailand

A 40-year-old man from Umeå in Sweden is accused of raping a 14-year-old Swedish girl during a visit to Thailand. On Tuesday June 10, 2008 the man appeared in court in Sweden – more than five years after the alleged offence, writes the Swedish tabloid Expressen.
     According to the article, the 40-year old raped the then 14-year-old girl during a trip to Thailand in February 2003 in a room in Koh Samui. It’s not clear which day it happened.
    It was the girl her self who reported the crime at home in Sweden. According to the indictment, the 40-year old forced her even though she tried to resist and say no. Thereafter, he should have used his own body weight, pressing her down. At the same time, he performed a sexual intercourse with her, the prosecutor claims.
    The parties did not known each other before the event.
    It’s the chief prosecutor Marina Amonsson from the International prosecution department who will lead the investigation because the alleged offence should have occurred abroad.
    As a prerequisite to prosecute someone for a crime committed abroad it has to be punishable both in country where the crime occurred as in Sweden. Sweden has a very wide-ranging legislation on sexual offences. Thailand’s laws required an intercourse in order to be sentenced for rape.
    “The man denies any criminal act”, says Marina Amonsson.
    Among the evidence is interrogation of those involved and witnesses who will explain the sequence of events and that 40-year old knew the girl’s age. The prosecutor also refers to stamps to show the time of the offence.
    The 40-year old was arrested in January 2007. But the district court in Umeå chose not to hold him in custody, because the risk that he could hamper the investigation was considered so small, that it did not justified a pre-trial detention.