Boonlua Chatree
City officials are investigating why teachers at
Pattaya School No. 9 not only didn’t report the rape of an 11-year-old
student in a school restroom, but told the girl to forget it.
Police take a statement from the boy and his mother.
The mother of the victim reported the rape to police
June 16, nearly a week after the girl was allegedly pushed into a
bathroom stall by a 13-year-old classmate who then sexually assaulted
her. The boy confessed to police he had relations with the girl, but
claimed that she liked him and had invited him into the restroom. The
boy has not been charged with any crime.
The girl’s relatives were not notified of the
incident and only discovered the truth after an aunt, noticing the
ashamed girl had been very depressed, coaxed the truth out of her.
The mother became incensed when they learn her
daughter’s friends had reported the rape to a teacher who did nothing
and that the girl herself told her own teacher, who instructed her to
stay quiet and forget the matter.
When asked about the allegations, an unidentified
male teacher brushed off questions, saying the school would “look into
it” and urged reporters not to publicize the matter.
Once the news broke, however, Deputy Mayor Wattana Chantanawaranon
jumped into the fray, saying he would set up a committee to investigate
the school’s response to the serious rape allegations.
