A 13-year old girl from Hua Hin has revealed that she was forced into sex work at age 11 by her mom and aunt, who sold her to a 50-year-old man for drug money and to repay debts from loan sharks.
In a Bangkok Post article, the revelation came to light when the girl confessed to her father and stepmother on April 26. Four days after the confession, the girl’s father contacted the Pavena Foundation for Children and Women, seeking legal protection.
The father iterated that he and the girl’s mother already separated years ago and were not legally married. They had two daughters, aged 8 and 13, and were with the mother’s custody. The father claimed that visitation to the young girls were also rejected.
The father, who was in Phuket, travelled to Hua Hin to pick up the girl when the 13-year-old contacted her step mother that she no longer wanted to live with her mother and grandmother due to the abuse and mistreatment, the article continued.
The father then filed a police report in Hua Hin and informed the mother that the child would be relocating to Phuket. The mother initially denied the father’s request but eventually gave in after the girl disclosed on the phone that she had been forced into prostitution.
The girl recounted that her mother and aunt had taken her to a motel on two occasions when she was 11 years old. The initial incident took place in August of 2023, when the aunt drove her to meet the man, who later took her to a hotel. After the incident, the young girl came home bleeding and in pain, with the mother dismissing it, only to claim it as a menstrual issue.
In the second incident which happened two months later, the aunt again brought the girl to meet the same man, but the girl resisted. The man returned the girl to the park, where the mother was waiting. The man then told the mother not to bring the child again, prompting the mother to curse at the young girl.
The report continued that the girl’s mother was a shabu addict and had used the daughter to pick up drugs from friends to avoid arrest. The mother is also under a pile of debt from informal lenders.
On April 30, the Pavena Foundation contacted the superintendent of Hua Hin police station, Pol. Col. Kampanat Na Wichai and has ordered a full investigation. The girl was immediately taken for medical examination and counselling. Both girls are under the foundation’s care.
On May 19, police obtained arrest warrants for the mother and the aunt for charges of human trafficking and procuring a child under 15 for sexual exploitation. The mother was arrested on the same day and was confirmed to be under the influence of illegal drugs, which is an addition to the charges.
The mother confessed to arranging three encounters with the man – once in a public park for a payment of 1,500 baht, and twice at hotels for 2,000 and 5,000 baht respectively. The aunt collected the money.
Police are still searching for the aunt and working to identify and prosecute the man who paid for sex with the child, the foundation said.