Man who allegedly molested women on Thailand buses arrested after video of him caught in the act goes viral

A Thai fourth-year university student filed a complaint with the police on Wednesday (Nov 29) after a man allegedly touched her waist from behind a seat while they were on a bus.

The victim, a student of a Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts in a well-known university, said that she was molested on Bus No 8 on Aug 18, but only filed a complaint now after she saw a video clip of another woman getting molested.

The clip which went viral amongst Thai Facebook users on Monday (Nov 29) shows a female bus passenger seated down, when a hand suddenly popped out behind, trying to grope her breast. 

The female passenger eventually burst out that she had caught the act on a video clip, reports The Nation and AsiaOne. 

She turned to confront the man, and the video clip showed his face clearly.

Drawing parallels between her own encounter with the video, the student said that she had stood up and yelled at the man but he did nothing.

The student also alleged that the man who touched her was the same one captured in the viral video.

She decided to file a complaint with the police at Bang Sue Station.

Another previous victim, going by the alias, ‘Por’ also reported that the same man had groped her breast on Aug 18, after seeing the viral video. 

Por said she recognised the man who had groped her and then fled, so she filed a police complaint on Sunday (Nov 26), resulting in a police investigation and the issuance of an arrest warrant.

A 36-year-old man, Peerapol Yodcharoen, was subsequently arrested for a series of sexual assaults against female passengers. 

He had allegedly groped 20 to 30 women on bus in Bangkok, between August and November 2017. 

Peerapol was arrested at his home in Tambon Bang Poon of Pathum Thani's Muang district.

He was the same man caught in the viral video taken on Nov 26, which showed him attempting to grope a female bus passenger’s breast, confirms city police deputy chief Pol Maj-General Sompong Chingdoung. 

The suspect confessed to the crimes and claimed that he was unable to keep his hands to himself after spotting the victims. 

Peerapol was charged committing an indecent act against a person over 15 years of age who was unable to resist.

The crime is punishable by up to 10 years in jail term, a Bt20,000 (S$825) in fine or both.

This is not the Peerapol’s first offence. 

He had been arrested on April 4 for a similar indecent act committed at a bus stop in Don Muang, said the police.