Today's Times interviews the lady in question and she insists she was raped.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news ... -z2779whlw
Not sure if you will be able to view this if not a subscriber? There is a 4.18 minute video interview with the alleged victim, although she isn't identified.
Here's the report, courtesy of The Times:
Stay away from rape island, teenager warns backpackers
A teenager who was allegedly drugged, raped and robbed on Koh Tao has warned fellow backpackers not to visit the notorious Thai island.
The 19-year-old Briton, speaking for the first time about her ordeal, told The Times that the Thai authorities had tried to publicly discredit her rather than investigate her claims and did not offer basic support or forensic checks.
She accused them of suppressing the truth about the brutal attack, during a gap-year holiday over the summer, because it would have a negative impact on tourism. The alleged victim, from London, said: “I would urge other young people to stay away. I would never feel safe going back to Koh Tao.
“I wouldn’t tell people not to go to Thailand in general, it is one of my favourite countries. But it is a beautiful place with a dark side that blinds you.” Koh Tao is popular among British backpackers but became notorious in 2014 when Hannah Witheridge, 23, and her friend David Miller, 24, were bludgeoned to death on the beach. It has since become known as “death island” after several unexplained backpacker deaths.
Police have been accused of covering up crime to protect the island’s tourism industry, with more than 100,000 people visiting a year. Twelve people were threatened with arrest this week for sharing details of the latest alleged attack on Facebook.
The London woman said that she was attacked in the early hours of June 26 on Sairee beach, where Ms Witheridge was raped before her murder. She believes that her rum and coke was spiked with drugs in one of the bars along the beach. A male friend who ordered a drink at the same time suffered the same symptoms of drowsiness and then blackout. She felt tired and left the bar and cannot remember anything since.
Speaking from her home she said: “The next thing I remember is waking up. My shorts and underwear were off me. A Thai guy was standing over me. As I woke up he just smiled at me and then he took off. He’d taken my phone, my money, my cards. I had scratches down my leg. I had really bad burn grazes on my knee which I’ve got scars from. I was in a lot of pain and I was covered in sand.”
The woman suspects that she was targeted because she and her friends had been out drinking every night while they were there. However, she had drunk less than normal on the night in question because it was her last on Koh Tao, which means Turtle Island, and she had an early boat booked to the island of Koh Phangan, about 90 minutes away. “I was just in a state, I couldn’t talk to anyone, I was terrified,” she said. “I just wanted to get off the island.”
She took the boat to Koh Phangan where she reported the rape but she said that the police refused to take action because it was on another island.
They did not offer any support, carry out forensics or have a rape kit. They would only offer to give her a police report so that she could claim her stolen belongings on insurance, which she said was the last thing on her mind.
She flew home to England after a few days and a friend took the semen- covered T-shirt that she was wearing during the alleged attack back to police on Koh Tao. They refused three times to accept it.
It was only after the alleged victim’s mother spoke out because she was so horrified by the lack of action that a police inquiry was opened last week.
Police have threatened to ban the woman from Thailand and claim that she made up the rape to cover up having sex with a British friend who was not her boyfriend, which she denies.
“I’m speaking out because I hope that they see I’m not out to get Thailand, I’m just asking for some respect and some help. Other people will not go to Koh Tao eventually if this keeps going on. Eventually there’s going to be too many cases like me because they’re not catching the right person. I feel like they’re misinterpreting my motives, that they think I hate Thailand and I want it to suffer. That’s the last thing I want as it’s one of my favourite places. I wouldn’t tell other people not to go elsewhere in Thailand, but they should be careful.”
Edit. There are a couple of interesting comments in response to this report.