1 week ago
28
By Hoang Nguyen  January 23, 2025 | 04:00 am PT
Thailand's Somluck Kamsing (L) competes with Canada's Benoit Gaudet during their Olympic Games preliminary featherweight boxing match in Athens, Greece on Aug. 16, 2004. Photo by AFP
Somluck Kamsing, the country's first Olympic gold medallist, was sentenced to over three years in prison on Thursday for the abduction and attempted rape of a teenager.
Kamsing, 52, became a national hero when he won featherweight boxing gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Thailand’s first-ever gold medal at the event. However, the Khon Kaen provincial court found him guilty of child abduction for molestation and attempted rape of a 17-year-old girl, according to Bangkok Post.
"For attempted rape by force and taking a person over the age of 15 but not over 18 for the purpose of indecency, the first defendant's actions constitute a single offense that violates multiple laws," the court said in its statement.
Kamsing was sentenced to three years, one month and 10 days in prison.
The court granted Kamsing bail at 300,000 baht ($9,000) while he pursues an appeal. He was also ordered to pay $5,000 in damages, Thai PBS World reported.
The case started from a complaint filed in December 2023 by a 17-year-old girl who alleged that Kamsing assaulted her in a hotel in Khon Kaen, a city in northeastern Thailand. According to police, the incident occurred after Kamsing and the girl met at a bar and stayed there until 3 a.m.
The court stated that it found the teenager's accusations credible, citing evidence of bruising on her body and dismissed the defendant's claim that the teenager had consented, adding that her decision to follow him to the hotel did not imply she was willing to engage in sexual activity with him.
Kamsing, who also won boxing titles at the 1994 and 1998 Asian Games in Hiroshima and Bangkok, has denied the allegations.
