year-old girl raped and thrown from a sleeper train
en route to Bangkok has told of her daughter's
dreams for the future, amid angry calls for a
mandatory death penalty for child rapists.
"She wanted to be an angel, she wanted to be an
air hostess," her mother said of Nong Kaem. "If
she was still here I would do everything to support
her, but now I have nothing left."
Kaem's sister, one of two who was traveling with
her on the overnight train from southern Thailand
on Saturday, wrote on Facebook of her guilt at not
being able to protect her. "Kaem, I am so sorry
that I failed to look after you. I am a terrible sister.
Please forgive me," she wrote, according to the
Bangkok Post.
Journey turned to horror
It was Kaem's first time on a train.
She was returning from the city of Surat Thai with
her two sisters and one of their boyfriends to the
Thai capital Bangkok, a popular route for tourists
going to and from the country's popular southern
beaches.
They were sharing a sleeping carriage, and turned
in for the night. By the morning Kaem was gone.
Police searched the train and the track as the
teenager's frantic family turned to the media for
help in finding her.
Three days later, her body was found naked near
the track; she'd been raped, suffocated and tossed
out of a window by her attacker who told police he
had been drinking and was high on
methamphetamine, according to Police Major
General Thanet Soonthornsuk.
Tracked down by phone
Police named Kaem's alleged murderer
as 22-year-old railway employee
Wanchai Saengkhao.
They said he confessed to the crime
after he was tracked down via his
victim's mobile phone. Wanchai sold
the girl's phone to a shop owner in
Bangkok, who took a copy of his I.D.
which was later passed to police.
Police said Wanchai admitted carrying the sleeping
child to another carriage where he raped and
strangled her, before throwing her lifeless body out
the window as the train passed through the
Pranburi District in Prachuabkirikan Province.
Wanchai has been charged with murder, rape of a
child under 15 years old and theft, police said.
He faces possible execution for the murder charge,
but activists are using the case to call for tougher
charges for child rape, which currently carries a
jail term of four to 20 years and a fine of up to
40,000 baht ($1,200).
Rage vented online
The reaction on social media was swift
and scathing as angry Thais
bombarded Wanchai's Facebook page
with abusive messages. The page is no
longer available.
Junta leader, army chief General
Prayuth Chan-ocha, expressed his
sorrow, and the former transport
minister, Chatchart Sitthipan, said he
took the blame for failing to do more when he was
in charge of the railway.
"It is the worst news in many years for the State
Railway of Thailand and the Ministry of Transport. I
feel that I am also responsible for this event,
because I did not do my job well enough when I
was the Minister," Chatchart said .
As word spread that Kaem had gone missing, Thai
actress and former Miss Thailand, Panadda
Wongphudee, posted a message on Instagram
urging people to back a campaign to change the
law under the slogan, "Rape, will be executed."
A Change.org petition was set up calling for the
tougher penalties -- "no more sentence reduction,
parole or pardon" -- which at the time of writing
had more than 25,000 signatories.
There were also calls for State Railway of Thailand
governor Prapas Chongsanguan to step down, as
officials scrambled to assure passengers the trains
were safe. A ban would be slapped on the sale of
alcohol on all trains, they said, and background
checks would be stepped up for all employees.
Are new laws the answer?
Amid the anger, some called for calm.
"We have to listen to this news with full
consciousness. To design or change a law base
on emotions and hatred will never produce
effective law. It will only promote more hatred in
society," said Dejudom Krairit, Chairman of
Lawyers Council of Thailand.
Writing in the Bangkok Post, columnist Sanitsuda
Ekachai said: "I seriously doubt if the angry calls
for the death penalty as the only punishment for
child rapists and rapists/murderers will make our
society any safer.
"These calls stem from the belief that this heinous
crime was possible because the punishment is not
heavy enough. This is not new. We hear such calls
every time a shocking rape or murder happens."
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