Pattaya Police have arrested a Thai musician accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old Swedish woman in the early hours of 4 January 2014.
Pol Lt Nakornraj Nontsriraj told ScandAsia the suspect, Ratchaphol Sornpongsai, 43, a musician at a Pattaya beer bar, was apprehended on 6 January for alleged rape while the woman was unconscious.
“Investigators have already questioned the victim and the suspect. We are now waiting for biometric matching before deciding whether to submit the case to public attorneys for trial in the Court,” the police officer said.
Outcome of biometric matching of evidence, including traces of semens at the crime scene and on the body and clothing of the victim, is key determining factor, he said.
The examination of forensic evidence typically takes two months to complete, Nakornraj said.
According to statement given to police earlier, the Swedish woman said she went out for a drink with some Swedish companions in Pattaya’s Walking Street area in the evening of 3 January until around 4 am of 4 January.
The Swedish woman said she was intoxicated when she called Ratchaphol, whom she described as a “family friend” who knew her father well, to take her home, according to police.
According to the account given to police, the Swedish woman said the suspect picked her up on his motorcycle and she woke up in the afternoon of 5 January in an apartment believed to belong to Ratchaphol.
Ratchaphol then took her home, left and afterwards sent a message to her phone, confessing to having sex with her while she was unconscious and begged for forgiveness, according to the statement.
Her father, a 59-year-old Swedish resident in Pattaya for the past year, became suspicious when his daughter appeared unwell and depressed after arriving home.
The man accompanied his daughter to report the crime to Pattaya Police after she told a woman neighbour about what happened.
