Police are looking for a security guard accused of breaking into a Bangkok condo and raping its resident early this morning.
Bang Khae district cops were alerted at about 2am to the assault of a 36-year-old woman inside her own room by a security guard of the Parkland Phetkasem condominium, according to Capt. Thongchai Tepcharoen of Phetchakasem police.
The security guard was identified as Montri Yaikratok, 40, the condo building’s head of security.
The woman told police that she approached Montri for help after forgetting the keycard to her seventh-floor room. After a locksmith opened the door and departed, the woman said Montri returned and knocked on her door. When she opened the door, Montri pushed his way into the room and used handcuffs to restrain the woman before attacking her. She said that he appeared to be high on drugs.
Afterward, the woman escaped to the ground floor and called the police.
Thongchai said six police officers sent to investigate the crime found handcuffs dumped in a garbage bin. Officers who visited Montri’s residence in Soi Phetchakasem 47 did not find him there.
The woman is being treated at Siriraj Hospital. She will be questioned in detail later today so the police can seek a warrant for Montri’s arrest, according to Thongchai.
Apparently no one does background checks at the unnamed condo. The cops said Montri had a criminal record that included two prior sexual assaults – one in Sakeao province in 2013 and another in 2017.
It’s just the latest episode of women being victimized at home in Bangkok. A day after Christmas, a man was arrested for breaking into a 23-year-old woman’s room and stabbing her to death as she fought him off.
Apart from self-defense training, there are not many avenues available for personal protection. It’s difficult to legally own a gun, and under the law, even carrying pepper spray is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in jail and a THB1 million (US$30,000) fine. Calls to amend the law have gone ignored.
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