Chinese tourist survives attempted rape and murder in Thailand

A man who attempted to rape and murder a Chinese tourist in Pattaya, Thailand, has been arrested by Thai police.

The 29-year-old Chinese tourist, identified only as Meilin, and her 19-year-old brother Chen, called police from Pattaya at around 10:30pm on February 18, claiming that Meilin had narrowly escaped a rape attempt by a man who then tried to kill her to silence her, according to a report on the Thai news website, thethaiger.

Police were dispatched to a location near a golf course after they got the call, where they found a section of the woodland burned, covering an area with a radius of approximately 70-80 meters.

Thaiger.com

They found Meilin extremely distressed and disoriented. After calming down, Meilin recounted her ordeal through a translator. She and her brother had been waiting for public transport to Pattaya's Walking Street, 10 kilometers from the crime scene, when two Thai men on motorcycles offered them a ride. The siblings accepted and took separate bikes, the report said.

However, Meilin quickly realized something was wrong when the motorcycles took different routes. Her driver stopped in a remote area, forcefully dragged her off the bike, and tied her hands. Although the police found evidence of binding on Meilin's wrists, her claims initially raised questions as there were no other signs of struggle, and her clothes were clean at the time of rescue.

Meilin said she had changed her clothes while waiting for her brother.

The attacker attempted to rape her but failed. Enraged, he robbed her of 85,000 Thai Baht (including 15,000 in Chinese Yuan and 10,000 Baht), and then applied lotion on her body, attempting to cover the fingerprints he had left on her.

The suspect set fire to the surrounding area in an attempt to kill her. Meilin managed to escape by burning through the ropes binding her hands and subsequently alerted her brother and the police.

The police found Meilin's burned pants, passport, and hotel room card near the crime scene. She also showed them a video from the motorcycle ride, capturing the suspect in a dark blue jacket, helmet, and motorcycle gloves, riding a Honda motorcycle with a backpack hung in front.

Surveillance from near the crime scene helped identify the suspect, a 41-year-old man who was apprehended in a house in the Rayong Province's Huai Pong district on February 21 after investigators tracked the suspect's escape route through surveillance footage.

The suspect, identified as Thip, was recognized by Meilin from a police photo. Thip, who has a history of robbing golf caddies, the report said, usually targeted victims for their necklaces and bags, and rode a motorcycle that was reported stolen from a hospital patient last year.