Police are hunting a construction worker who allegedly raped a young New Zealand woman returning to a hostel in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The man was seen in surveillance camera footage leading the woman into an alley before the alleged rape.
A court arrest warrant had been issued for Anat Ouddee, 34, on a charge of rape, Pol Col Kiart Kapbua, chief of Samran Rat police, said on Tuesday.
A crying 29-year-old foreign woman, whose name was not disclosed, had run from a construction site opposite Wat Rajbophit and sought help from police patrolling the area near the royal temple about 3am on Saturday.
The tourist, who was from New Zealand, said she wanted to file a complaint against a rapist. She was taken to Samran Rat police station.
The young woman told police she was raped when returning to the hostel she stayed at from Khao San Road in the early hours of Dec 1.
Police investigators examined CCTV footage from the area, which showed a woman dressed in black getting out of a taxi at 2.33am on Saturday. She sat down on the footpath kerb at the entrance to an alley leading to the Issarp Hostel.
A man is seen entering the alley and then stopping to talk with the woman, who was sitting with her head down.
The man then took her hand and she stood up and they were seen walking down the alley, which also led to the construction site the woman ran from to seek police help.
People living nearby told police the man in the surveillance video was a construction worker. He often went out drinking after work and returned to the construction site late at night.