NEW YORK: A man with a long criminal history was arrested last Thursday and charged with beating and robbing a Thai woman on a subway platform in New York City late last year, according to the New York Post.
Kevin Douglas, 40, was charged by the New York Police Department with second-degree robbery, third-degree robbery and second-degree assault, the newspaper said.
Douglas has been in jail since Nov 22 last year for another crime committed later the same day as the alleged subway assault on Bew Jirajariyawetch, 23, public records show. Ms Bew was attacked while waiting for a train home to Queens, according to the Post. Surveillance footage showed a man yanking her back before throwing her to the ground and punching her. While she was down, Douglas, who has a string of prior arrests, allegedly touched her private parts and fled with her purse, police said.
Photos taken after the assault showed the young woman's face covered in purple bruises with dried blood caked under her nose and near her mouth, the Post reported.
Ms Bew moved to New York a few months earlier to study English and pursue a career in fashion.
"Nothing can change what happened, but I'm happy he cannot do this to someone else," she said.