NAKHON RATCHASIMA: The former Thai wife of a foreigner whose Cambodian employee was cruelly assaulted by two Polish men last month has denied threatening the woman.
Katanyuta Oche, 49, of Muang district in Nakhon Ratchasima, told reporters that she just learned from media reports on Saturday morning that she was accused of involvement in the torture case in Pattaya.
She never thought that her Australian ex-husband and the Cambodian woman would have implicated her in such a serious matter, she said.
Ms Katanyuta denied knowing the two Polish men who are wanted for carrying out the vicious assault — the victim required 260 stitches — and who subsequently left the country early last month. She said she never phoned the woman to threaten her as the victim reportedly alleged.
She said she did not know exactly what her ex-husband and the woman expected to achieve by implicating her, adding that she had no reason to arrange for such a crime to be committed.
The allegations, she said, had caused damage to her personally and professionally. As a result, she had come forward to deny the reports and was was ready to give her side of the story if asked by police.
Ms Katanyuta said she would not flee and would consult a lawyer to sue the pair to protect her dignity.
A coordinator for foreign documentary films in Southeast Asia, Ms Katanyuta said she had visited Cambodia many years ago to film a documentary there. At the time, Cambodian people had been called for casting and she remembered seeing the Cambodian woman there.
She said she did not know how her then-husband came to know the woman. Last year, she filed for divorce and the case is still in court. She said she had not been in contact with the man, other than to discuss taking care of their son who is studying abroad.
The 30-year-old Cambodian artist reportedly told police after the assault that her life had been threatened by an ex-wife of her foreign employer.
The month-old case did not come to light until lawyer Sittha Biabangkerd, a prominent victims’ rights advocate, brought it to the attention of deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn. The latter is now following up with Bang Lamung police in Chon Buri, in whose jurisdiction the crime occurred.
Local police have asked Interpol to help arrest the two Polish men alleged to have cut the woman’s face, hit her with a hammer and splashed acid on her genitals in Pattaya. The crime took place in a forest near an eatery on Na Kluea 16 Road in tambon Nong Prue of Bang Lamung district on Nov 1.
Investigators have already identified the pair, aged 22 and 31, from fingerprints and DNA on a cutter, a hammer, adhesive tape, a wire and a glass left at the crime scene, Pol Col Nawin Sinthurat, chief of the Bang Lamung police station, said on Friday.
The suspects left for the Philippines on Nov 3. Apparently the assault was planned and initially police suspected a relationship conflict, said Pol Col Nawin.
(Note: An earlier version of this story mistakenly identified the foreign man in question as the boyfriend of the assault victim)