Regional News
13 Year Old Thai Girl Raped and then Thrown to her Death off Running Train
A suspect, an outsourced railway employee who catered to servicing passengers on the bogey, was arrested and later confessed to raping and killing the girl.
The body of Kochakorn “Kaem” Pitakjumnong was found five meters from the tracks.
Wanchai Saengkhao, a 22-year-old bed-sheet replacement employee of a company outsourced by the State Railway of Thailand, confessed Monday night to raping and killing the girl, before throwing her body off a window of a sleeper car of Train No. 174.
He was flown to Pranburi Tuesday morning to reenact the crime amid protection by a hundred of police for fear of being mobbed and assaulted by angry residents’
Earlier yesterday the girl’s relatives went to Hua Hin where a train bed sheet and a blood-stained T-shirt had been found near a track.
The body of the young girl was found in a thick grass field five metres from the southern track and about two kilometres from where the railway crosses the entrance of the Pran Buri forest park in Wang Pong sub-district, Pran Buri district.
The relatives and rescue workers took about two hours trying to find the body in the dark and found her early today.
The suspect, Wanchai, said he had taken methamphetamine since the train had left Nakhon Si Thammarat province and drunk beer with friends in the fourth sleeper car while the victim had been on the third car of the train.
After the drinking, he walked pass the girl’s bed and opened a window of the non-air-conditioned sleeper car of the girl so that the wind blocked the noises before attacking her. After raping the girl, he killed the victim and threw her body off the train while it was approaching the Wang Pong station.
He then threw the blood-stained bed sheet and the victim’s clothes out of the window while the train was passing the Nong Kae station adjacent to the Wang Pong station.
An autopsy revealed that the 13-year-old girl who was raped on board a Bangkok-bound train died from a skull fracture. Kochakorn’s body had been delivered to the Forensics Department for a thorough post-mortem autopsy. Her body is set to be later returned to her family in Nonthaburi province.
Her death has received an outpour of sympathy from the police and has triggered concerns from officials over the safety of passengers on board public trains.
SRT labor union leader Suwit Kaewwan has publicly apologized to the girl’s family, saying the vetting process for SRT employees could have been more strict. He noted that safety measures on board the trains have been more lax due to shortage of staff.
Former Transport Minister Chatchart Sittipan has also posted a message online offering his condolences and apologies for her family for not tightening security measures and overhauling the train safety system during his time in office.
Facebook users have set up an online group proposing the death penalty against those responsible for committing rape and murder. The page now boasts at least 6,000 members online.
Needless to say, the case has sparked serious outrage in the society and among the online community. Members of the group are set to stage a rally at Park Paragon on July 12 at 11:00 am.
By advocating the death penalty, the group hopes to prevent such a tragic incident from repeating itself in future. The admin of the group also posted a slogan saying: “Even one voice can make a difference in changing the law.” Members of the group are also set to wear black grieving over the loss of the young girl and have invited others to join their movement as well.