The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) has reached an out-of-court settlement with a woman who was raped by a railway worker in a sleeper car in 2001, agreeing to pay 5.2 million baht to the victim.
A victim of a sexual assault on a train appears at the South Bangkok Civil Court after the State Railway of Thailand agreed to pay her compensation of 5.2 million baht following a 13-year dispute. Apichart Jinakul
The agreement, brokered by the Supreme Court, brings to an end years of civil dispute, said Decha Ubonpong, secretary of the South Bangkok Civil Court.
The compensation was lower that the 18 million baht which the victim sought in a civil suit she filed against the SRT and her attacker, Natthaphat "Ritthidet" Chakchai, who was convicted of rape.
In December 2008, the South Bangkok Civil Court awarded her compensation of 3 million baht after the Supreme Court upheld a nine-year jail sentence against Natthaphat in August the same year. But the SRT appealed, seeking negotiations.
The woman said yesterday the total amount which the SRT awarded her was about 10 million baht, including interest, but as part of the deal she "gave" 4.8 million baht to the SRT to improve rail services.
Speaking after the settlement, she called on the SRT to install new measures to screen potential employees. She also warned women to be careful when travelling and urged companies to consider the safety of their employees when sending them on work trips outside Bangkok by train.
Natthaphat assaulted the woman in a sleeper coach of a Sungai Kolok-Bangkok train on July 16, 2001, when she was returning from a business trip to Hat Yai. She had made frequent business trips to the South before she was attacked.
He tried to detain his victim in the sleeper car to prevent her from alerting police, but she managed to flee and file a complaint. When Natthaphat was arrested, he denied the rape charges, claiming the sex had been consensual.
The South Bangkok Criminal Court found him guilty and sentenced him to nine years in jail for rape and illegal detention. The sentence was upheld by the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court.
The woman said that even after 13 years she is struggling to cope. After the assault, she was forced to quit her job and live overseas.
Her case was thrust back into the spotlight in July after a 13-year-old girl was raped and killed by a railway worker on an overnight train from Surat Thani to Bangkok. The girl's body was found near the tracks in Prachuap Khiri Khan's Pran Buri district a day later.