Mother of alleged victim of rape attack on Death Island accuses police of cover-up

IT MAY be the picture of perfection but this island has become a death trap for tourists. Now a grisly new crime has just come to light.

IT’S hard to believe anything could go wrong on a sun-soaked island paradise as idyllic as this.

Thailand’s Koh Tao is a vision of beauty with its pristine beaches, dreamy jungle, kaleidoscopic coral reefs and waters so turquoise they’ve drawn tourists from all over the world.

But behind the sunshine and beauty of this archipelago, a stone’s throw from the party islands of Koh Phangan and Koh Samui, lies a very dark secret.

Koh Tao, which has earned the name Death Island due to a troubling string of tourist deaths, attacks and disappearances, is again in the spotlight for another horrific crime on a young holiday-maker, promoting fresh calls for tourists to steer clear.

And what’s worse is accusations local police are covering up crimes on westerners as mafia families tighten their terrifying grip on Koh Tao, fuelling fears this idyllic paradise has become a death trap.

Another young tourist has fallen victim to Koh Tao. Picture: iStock

In the latest crime to rock Death Island, a 19-year-old British tourist said she was drugged, robbed, stripped naked and raped during her stay.

The young woman said the brutal attack happened on popular Sairee Beach, the same spot a young couple from the United Kingdom were found dead in 2014.

She said she was drinking with friends at two local bars, the Fish Bowl and Leo Bar, where she believed someone spiked her drink.

She passed out and woke up on the beach, naked, alongside a man she remembered watching her at the bar.

The incident happened on June 26, but the young woman has only just spoken about her horrifying ordeal.

Her mother said the young victim was “scarred for life”.

Party island Koh Tao, Thailand, has been dubbed ‘Death Island’.

“We know how lucky we are to have our daughter back home,” her mother told The Sun this week. “Although she will be scarred for life, she is alive.

“Something needs to be done about the two mafia families who run Koh Tao, as one or both are knowingly harbouring a serial rapist and murderer.”

What complicated the young woman’s ordeal was the apparent confusion over police investigations into what happened.

The tourist said after the attack, she fled to a nearby island and reported the crime to Koh Tao police, who appeared only interested in the robbery.

When The Sun contacted the island’s deputy police chief Lt Colonel Napa Senathip this week, he said a sex attack had not been reported.

But he backtracked on those claims when presented with a police report of the incident.

Hannah Witheridge. Picture: Supplied

David Miller and Hannah Witheridge were found dead on Koh Tao in 2014.

The victim’s mother was told CCTV cameras near the beach which could have captured her daughter’s attack were broken. Chillingly, they were the same broken cameras that missed the 2014 murders of British couple Hannah Witheridge and David Miller.

CCTV footage from Leo Bar, where the victim believed her drink had been spiked, has also been erased, The Sun reported.

“Officers went to the scene and try to investigate and search for CCTV footage,” a Koh Tao police spokesman said.

“Unfortunately, there was no evidence or any part of the footage showing the crime so the criminal case regarding this incident never been officially recorded in Koh Tao.”

The attack on the young woman comes months after another young British tourist, 18, was drugged and raped after a night out on Koh Tao.

Thai rescue workers gather the bodies of David Miller and Hannah Witheridge.

The young woman said she had been drinking with friends on April 4 when she felt “intoxicating symptoms like being poisoned” and passed out, waking the next morning in a hotel room wearing only a T-shirt, beside a man who had been talking to her at the bar.

A 26-year-old French man was arrested and charged with the attack, but in June charges again him were dropped and Thai police said he was “free to leave”.

That was yet another unsolved attack on tourists on Death Island.

The holiday destination was plunged into the spotlight in September 2014 when the semi-naked bodies of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and her boyfriend David Miller, 24, were found on Sairee Beach.

Ms Witheridge was raped before she was apparently killed. The couple were found in the same place Ben Harrington, a 32-year-old British IT consultant who died on the island in 2012, had stayed.

New Zealand-born Christina Annesley, pictured with her parents, died on Koh Tao.

A few months later, in January 2015, the body of New Zealand-born Christina Annesley, 23, was found in the same spot.

British backpackers Nick Pearson and Luke Miller, along with Elise Dallemagne from Belgium, Hans Peter Suter from Switzerland, and Dimitri Povse from France have also been found dead on Koh Tao.

Russian woman Valentina Novozhyonova is still missing.

Those involved with the island’s activities have claimed to news.com.au that residents on the island know who actually killed them, but no one will say anything because it was run by four mafia families.

Boyne Annesley, the father of slain Christina Annesley, told news.com.au he didn’t know if he would ever find out what happened to his daughter.

“In the back of my mind I had a feeling there might be something wrong. Now I’m really suspicious,” UK-based Mr Annesley said in March this year.

“I don’t believe we’ll ever find out what happened to her. There’s no proof because you can’t get proof because the authorities are corrupt.”

Elise Dallemagne was found dead on the island. Picture: Facebook

Valentina Novozhyonova, 23, vanished from her hostel on Koh Tao.

DEATH ISLAND’S VICTIMS

Nick Pearson, 25, from the UK. On New Years Day in 2014, he was found floating in a bay beneath a 15m cliff. He had no broken bones. Police ruled out foul play but his family believe he was murdered.

Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, from the UK. In September 2014, the couple were found bludgeoned to death close to where they were staying. Ms Witheridge had been raped.

Dimitri Povse, 29, from France. On New Years Day in 2015, he was found hanging in a bungalow. Police ruled his death a suicide but couldn’t explain why his hands were tied behind his back.

Christina Annesley, 23, from the UK and born in New Zealand. In January 2015, she was said to have died of natural causes after mixing antibiotics with alcohol. No toxicology report was conducted. Her family are suspicious.

Valentina Novozhyonova, 23, from Russia. In March 2015, she vanished from her hostel, with her mobile phone, passport and camera left behind. She is still missing.

Luke Miller, 24, from the UK. In January 2016, he was found at the bottom of a swimming pool at the Sunset Bar at Sairee Beach. His family has accused police of a cover-up.

Elise Dallemagne, 30, of Belgium. In April 2017, she was found hanged in the jungle. Questions surround her death.