A man who masqueraded as a taxi motorcyclist and preyed on drunk women nightly has been arrested on charges of raping a Chinese woman he picked up from a Bangkok nightspot, police say.
The 35-year-old suspect identified only as Thanapat was arrested with his motorcycle on Royal City Avenue in Huai Khwang district at 5am on Wednesday, said Pol Maj Gen Theeradet Thumsuthee, investigative commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau.
When officers examined his mobile phone they found a video of his latest victim urinating and vomiting while drunk in a bed. They also found similar videos of five other women and others of child molestation.
The arrest followed a complaint from a Chinese woman who told police at the Phaya Thai station that she woke up naked beside a man in a motel. She said she had been raped and there was semen in her body.
Detectives found that the suspect usually dressed like a taxi motorcyclist and looked for drunk victims at nightspots between 1am and 5am after pubs closed.
According to Pol Maj Gen Theeradet, the Chinese woman was waiting for a rider on Royal City Avenue on Monday after calling for one via an app. The suspect approached her on his bike and pretended to be the rider she called.
He then brought her to a motel on Rang Nam Road, where he raped her for about two hours, police said.
Mr Thanapat denied all charges and said he had the woman’s consent. He also said that the other women recorded on his phone were sex workers.
Pol Maj Gen Theeradet said police did not believe the suspect and had evidence that he preyed on drunk women at entertainment venues every night. The commander urged other victims to file complaints.
Police also found that the suspect had been prosecuted for two thefts in Phayao in 2008 and 2012, and for illegal gambling in Huai Khwang district in 2018.