A 26-year-old man who later admitted to being high on drugs has been arrested for masturbating in public, assaulting a 30-year-old woman and stealing her bag at Kheha BTS skytrain station on Tuesday.

Suthat Chuayrot was arrested by police a few hours after the attack on a station walkway about 9.38am on Tuesday.  

According to police, he admitted to masturbating on the walkway while waiting, approaching and molesting the woman as she arrived at the top of the escalator, trying to force himself on her, hitting her in the face repeatedly, then stealing her handbag and fleeing as another person arrived up the stairway.

The attack was recorded by a security camera.

The man had two previous counts of theft against him and was discharged from prison in February, police said.

The suspect allegedly admitted having taken several tablets of Rohypnol, drinking kratom juice and smoking cannabis prior to committing the crime.

He was heavily intoxicated by all these drugs when he rode his motorcycle to the BTS station, and claimed to have little memory of the events, police said.

Mr Suthat was found with the victim’s mobile phone and 1,050 baht in cash, which were in the stolen handbag.

The victim said she cried out for help as she tried to resist the man, but no one came to her rescue even though a security checkpoint and a ticket counter were just a few metres away.

After hitting her repeatedly in the face with his fist, the attacker had pulled out a knife and threatened to kill her if she continued to fight him, she said. Fortunately, another person had arrived at the top of the escalator, which scared her attacker away

“I used to believe a BTS station is a safe place,” she said. “What would happen if this occurred at night?”