Olympic gold medal boxer convicted of attempted rape

Thailand’s first Olympic Games gold medallist Somrak Khamsing was sentenced to three years, one month and ten days in prison after being found guilty of attempted rape by the Khon Kaen Provincial Court.

The boxer, who won a Gold medal at the Atlanta Games in the United States in 1996, was charged with attempting to rape a 17-year-old girl. The offence took place on December 10th, 2023 in Khon Kaen province. During the trial, Somrak claimed that the young woman had consented to having sex.

The court dismissed this claim, noting that the victim testified that she was sexually assaulted by Somrak and wounds found in and on the body of the victim proved this.

The court also ruled that the boxer’s claim that the victim had demanded payment in return for the “sexual service” was unsubstantiated. As such, the court found him guilty of attempted rape and initially sentenced him to four years and eight months.

Because Somrak’s testimony was useful in the case, the court commuted the sentence to three years, one month and ten days and ordered him to pay 170,000 baht in compensation to the victim.

A second defendant, identified as ‘Pichet’, was acquitted.

Somrak was released on bail.