After appealing for aid from the Krajok Ngao Foundation, 32-year-old “Hen” and her children ages 14, 10 and 15 months were taken into custody by Child Welfare and Protection Center officials and officers from the Chonburi Provincial Police’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division.
The 14-year-old girl shows rescuers some of the scars from the abuse her stepfather inflicted upon her.
Hen told authorities her family had been forced by her 40-year-old husband “Jan” to come to Pattaya to work as beggars, beating her and his three stepchildren severely if they failed to collect enough money. Hen’s 14-year-old daughter was covered in bruises and her 10-year-old boy had a split lip and cut nose. The infant showed obvious signs of malnutrition.
Most recently, Hen said, her husband demanded that she sell the 14-year-old girl - who she claimed her husband frequently sexually molested - to a foreigner for sex for 80,000 baht. Before she could deliver the girl to the foreign man, however, her husband left for a return visit to Cambodia, giving her an opportunity to seek help.
Police officials arrested Hen on immigration charges relating to her illegal entry into the country and placed her children in state custody while they arrange shelter. Meanwhile, Anti-Human Trafficking Division officers launched an investigation to try and locate Jan in Cambodia.
