BURI RAM: A poor woman in Satuk district has sought help for her two autistic daughters, one allegedly raped by a relative awaiting ordination and the other by an elderly stranger.
The 51-year-old woman shared the story with local government officials and reporters at her shack in Ban Palad Moom, tambon Sanam Chai on Thursday. She said she was the only able member in her family of five -- her husband, 54, and their three daughters -- aged 18, 25 and 26 years -- were autistic.
The woman, whose name is being withheld, said that on April 14, 2019, she took her eldest daughter with her to help in the kitchen at an ordination ceremony for a distant relative in their village.
While the mother was cleaning dishes, she said she was told the man about to be ordained had taken her daughter into a nearby culvert. She rushed over and saw him having sexual intercourse with her.
She took her daughter to a local hospital for a physical examination but was told she would have to pay 4,000 baht because she had not been referred there by police.
She had only 100 baht, so she took her daughter home.
She says the man's family gave her 7,000 baht in compensation and promised he would marry her daughter later but they did not keep their promise after he left the monkhood and it was too late to file a police complaint.
Then, on July 4 last year, the woman said she took her second-eldest daughter to visit a relative in another village. There, a 73-year-old man raped her in a sugarcane plantation, then gave her 100 baht and told her to keep quiet.
She filed a complaint with Satuk police but although he was charged and the case went to court the old man fled and now lived with his daughter in Bangkok. He showed no remorse, she said.