CHACHOENGSAO: An 81-year-old monk arrested in connection with the rape of a 13-year-old girl 18 years ago has denied the charges and claimed the girl was fond of him.
La Wanpirun was taken into custody at Wat Khok Hua Khao in Phanom Sarakham district of this eastern province on Saturday and immediately defrocked.
He was wanted on an arrest warrant issued by the Pattaya Provincial Court for depriving a minor aged below 15 of parental care, raping a girl aged below 15 who was not his wife and performing an obscene act on a girl aged below 15, regardless of whether the girl consented.
The offense took place on Oct 7, 2001 when the suspect, who was in the monkhood at the time, took the girl to Phanom Sarakham district by passenger bus, said Pol Col Arun Warichasrisukanya, superintendent of Crime Suppression Division (CSD) sub-division 2.
He then took the girl to a relative’s house where there was a party at night. Police said he persuaded the girl to drink two glasses of beer and she became intoxicated, after which he raped her.
The following day, the girl awoke with vaginal pain. The monk hugged her and told her he would take responsibility if she got pregnant, said the CSD officer.
Two days later, he took the girl to Sattahip in Chon Buri. The girl’s mother later learned from her daughter that she had been raped, and a medical checkup confirmed it. The mother filed a complaint with Sattahip police against the monk, who had already fled the area.
CSD police later tracked down the accused and found he had taken refuge at Wat Khok Hua Khao in Chachoengsao.
The rape suspect wears white after being defrocked from the monkhood in Chachoengsao on Saturday. (Supplied photo)
During interrogation, Mr La said he had entered the monkhood when he was 35. He got to know the girl when he was about 60 as her parents often made merit with him at a temple in Sattahip.
The former monk claimed the girl was fond of him at the time. One day, when he was about to visit a relative in Phanom Sarakham, the girl ran onto the bus he had boarded and asked to go with him. He tried to prevent the girl from travelling with him but she refused.
The girl stayed in his relative’s house for two days, during which he did not sexually abuse her, the accused said. He later took the girl back to Sattahip to meet her parents and subsequently left the monkhood. Two months later, he entered the monkhood again and stayed in various temples before moving to Wat Kho Hua Khao.
He claimed he was not aware he was wanted on the arrest warrant. The statute of limitations for the charges was due to expire in the next two years.
The arrest of Mr La was the second this month involving a monk for a sexual assault committed long ago. On July 18 a 33-year-old monk was arrested in Suphan Buri for allegedly raping a young woman after they left a pub together 16 years ago.
