“I heard about the heart-wrenching incident and wonder how could there be another victim after me. Why wasn’t I the last?”
That question lay at the heart of a wrenching letter sent by a woman who said every day of the last 13 years has been a nightmare since she was also raped on a train by an employee of the State Railway of Thailand.
When news it had happened again to a 13-year-old girl reached her in Greece, where she migrated to avoid the stigma of being a rape victim, the woman said she passed out from stress before waking up and penning her letter to junta chief Gen. Prayuth Chanocha and railway head Prapat Chongsanguan.
Her name has not been published as is practice for rape survivors.
“Thirteen years ago, if you even remember. A graduate student was raped in her bed compartment, and the state railway fired the employee. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.”
In July 2001, she was traveling overnight from Narathiwat to Bangkok when she was raped in her bed by Nattapat Chakkachai, an SRT employee. She held a position of marketing manager at a private company and was studying for a Master’s degree at the time, according to Chao Nee Ti Mo-Chit. The attack occurred while on a business trip, so the company felt embarrassed and fired her.
The woman managed to escape and went to the police.
Nattapat was arrested later and fought the case in court, claiming the woman consented.
In the end, the prosecution prevailed. The court’s logic for sentencing Nattapat to nine years in prison was that “the victim was well-educated and already had a boyfriend.”
The woman explained in the letter that night ruined her life professionally, emotionally and physically.
“I was forced to leave my job because the board felt I ruined the company’s reputation,” she wrote. “I had to visit a psychiatrist for years because I hallucinated and could not control myself.”
The effects continue to this day, she said.
“Every night, I have nightmares. I’m afraid of people around me, and I don’t trust anyone. It has been 13 years, and I still find it difficult to live a normal life,” she wrote. “I had to relocate and start a new life abroad.”
Considering the trauma she has experienced since, she questioned in her letter whether young Kaem’s death was better.
She calls for a officials to respond to the crime with more preventive measures, greater punishment and serious law enforcement.
“Is it time for us to do something to the society in order to feel safe, so that we don’t have wonder who would be the next victim? … Or do you have to wait for it to happen to your family?” the letter read.
She directly questioned state railway Gov. Prapat Chongsanguan on whether he should remain at his post.
“Are you sure in the past 117 years that the organization has operated, there was never a rape before this one?” she said. “I’m not sure how you were assigned to this position, but haven’t you heard a woman was raped before by your worker? Do you think you still deserve to run this organization?”
She also faulted the railway for refusing to pay court-ordered compensation by filing endless appeals that have left the case unresolved 13 years later.
She questioned if they’d also attempt to sweep Kaem’s rape and murder under the rug.
“Are you just going to fire the employee and act like everything’s over, like you did to me?” she wrote. “I want to ask you what would you say if this has happened to your family?”
Related:
Train rapist was SRT employee, says he raped twice before
Autopsy: Teen died from impact after being raped, thrown from train
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