Thai Monk Arrested for Alleged Rape that Happened 16 Years Ago

BANGKOK – A 33 year-old Thai monk has been arrested in central Thailand for the alleged rape of woman, after they left a bar together 16 years ago.

Police from Thailand’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division detained Sahapol Wangchana at Wat Tha Phraya Chak in U Thong district of Suphan Brui Province yesterday.

Pol Col Marut Kanchanakhanthakul, told The Bangkok Post that in April 2003 the suspect, then aged 17, went to a pub in Bangkok, where he and his friends shared a table with some women.

One of the women was too drunk to return home alone, so he offered her a ride on his motorcycle.

On the way, he allegedly raped her.

Investigators said the learned he had changed his name and became a monk in U Thong.

Sahapol Wangchana has denied the charges, police are continuing to investigate the allegations.

Monks Behaving Badly

This isn’t the only time a monk in Thailand has been accused of rape.

In October of 2018 a jet setting monk was given an additional 16 years behind bars for taking a 14-year-old girl away from her parents and allegedly raping her.

Wirapol Sukphol became infamous when he appeared in a 2013 YouTube video in his monk’s robe aboard a private jet wearing aviator sunglasses with a Louis Vuitton carry-on by his side.

In 2015 Police in Bangkok have arrested a now Defrocked Monk Phra Sujin Thammatheepo, 56, at Bang Pakok Temple in Rat Burana district for allegedly raping and blackmailing an 11-year-old girl.

Sujin Thammatheepo reportedly told police he had known the victim for five years, but only started having sex with her in the past year.

He told police they only had three sexual encounters, and that he always gave her money.