SONGKHLA: A 16-year-old girl and the boyfriend she allegedly allowed to rape her young autistic sister were apprehended in Hat Yai, Songkhla, on Wednesday afternoon.
The duo were nabbed in tambon Khuan Lang of Hat Yai around 3pm as they were getting off a pickup truck that had travelled from Muang district of Songkhla, near a road leading to Hat Yai airport.
They were taken to Sadao police station. Police interrogated them separately.
The girl, who has not been named, and her boyfriend Sanpitch Gobbai, 19, showed no emotion during the interrogation, police said.
The girl allegedly let her boyfriend rape her 12-year-old autistic sister and rob her grandmother at their home in Sadao district on Aug 20.
Three police teams had been involved in the hunt for to two fugitives, Pol Col Sawat Srisaengyong, chief of Sadao police, said.
The autistic girl is receiving close care from her father and paternal grandmother at a relative's home in tambon Phang La.
Somnuek Thaenkaysorn, the 73-year-old grandmother, said she had raised both girls since the divorce of their parents and she could not tolerate what the elder one did to her younger sibling and to her.
The grandmother was assaulted and robbed after learning about the rape. She said she would no longer consider the elder one her granddaughter.
The suspects started their relationship in late April and the man moved into the girl's house in tambon Prik of Sadao district. The house was deserted after the incident.
The rape reportedly occurred in the bedroom of the 16-year-old girl, where she wrote messages showing her love for him on the walls.
The grandmother said she was tied on a daybed when she was assaulted and robbed. The couple then made off with her gold ring, 300 baht in cash and a motorcycle.
The 16-year-old girl who allegedly let her boyfriend rape her 12-year-old autistic sister is nabbed in Hat Yai, Songkhla, on Wednesday afternoon. (Photo by Assawin Pakkawan)