An unlicensed cabbie who stood accused of groping a 20-year-old female passenger, asking her for sex, then allegedly threatening her by claiming he had a gun, was let go with a paltry fine of THB1,000 (US$30) today.
The victim, whose name was withheld, told reporters that she took a taxi from Bangok’s Ramintra area to visit her mother at a hospital in Nakhon Pathom on Monday. In her account of the story, cabbie Rachanon Sijumphol, 46, asked her to move from the backseat to sit next to him in the front (Huge red flag!). The victim compiled for unspecified reasons, only saying she was afraid, then secretly started a video call with her brother.
In the middle of the ride, the young woman claimed that the cabbie started talking about his sex life and his girlfriend. At one point, the driver offered her a gold bracelet in exchange for sex.
“He said, ‘Do you want gold? I’ll give you another THB2,000, but I’d like to have sex with you.” the victim told Amarin TV.
He then allegedly touched her legs, arms, and breasts, to which the victim responded: “If you had a daughter and she fell in the situation, what would you do?”
The young woman said her statement angered Rachanon, who then allegedly claimed he had a gun and threatened to shoot her with it.
“Do you wanna die? I have a gun,” she claims he said.
However, the cabbie never produced a weapon.
Her brother shared a part of the video in which the driver took off the gold bracelet from the victim’s wrist as she was getting out of the taxi, which went viral on Facebook. The rest of the video, presuming they have more to show, has not been published online.
https://www.facebook.com/taxireportth/posts/387817281735785
Rachanon told police that he had only been driving a taxi for a week without a license and admitted to inappropriately touching her because she “looked beautiful and reminded him of his girlfriend.”
However, he denied mentioning a gun. About the questionable gold bracelet, he said he only put it on her because he wanted to see if her wrist was the same size as his girlfriend’s. Errrr.
Oh, and he said he didn’t technically ask her for sex either. He only admitted to asking if she’s a virgin. See? Nothing to see here, folks!
Ultimately, he was simply fined THB1,000 for being impolite to a passenger, and no charges were pressed as the victim did not want to pursue legal action.
While stories of Bangkok taxi drivers sexually harassing passengers were constantly reported, no measure has been set to curb these taxi drivers — most of whom got away with a small fine.
