Muad's Story
As a 10 year old boy in northern Thailand, Muad* enjoyed school and had close friends. But it wouldn’t be long before he dropped out of Grade 6 to help his father in the family construction business. A few years later he left his family to go to Bangkok to look for work and ended up as a street child in Pattaya, a city notorious in Thailand for sex trafficking. Muad eventually met a Dutch man who groomed him and sexually abused him for years, avoiding the justice system for nearly a decade.
In 2012 the offender came under the scrutiny of a Dutch documentary in which he was captured on video in the acts of purchasing video equipment and admitting to the exploitation of children in Pattaya. He was arrested in 2015 but charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. He layed low for several years until 2020, when the offender released videos for a Dutch audience explaining how to sexually exploit children in Thailand. Finally, with the help of DSI’s persistence, the Dutch embassy and the support of LIFT forensic analysis of the offender’s devices to provide evidence, this Dutchman would go away for good.
Now a young adult, Muad had been physically free of his trafficker for several years at this point, but he was not yet free of the trauma and justice had yet to be served. LIFT Legal wasn’t finished yet. It took some time but the legal team found Muad and informed him of his right to file a compensation claim against the man who had so darkly marred his past.
The offender intended to fight the allegations through a full trial, but he backed down when he saw that LIFT Legal was backing Muad. After a full day of negotiations in June 2021, Muad was granted 150,000 THB ($6,054 AUD) in compensation and the Dutch man was deported back to the Netherlands.
“I feel better, like I have a new life. The offender got the sentence he deserved and I got justice. I feel like I can find a new life with no more nightmares anymore,” Muad explains. “I can erase what happened in the past and start a new life.” After being reunited with his family and working again with his father, Muad wants to help provide a good life for his parents and all live together happily and have a better life.
Muad said he is thankful to LIFT for their support and help in the legal process. “No other organisation came to help me,” he added. “Thank you to LIFT staff for helping me and providing justice for me and my family. Thank you for everything.”
If it wasn’t for the long-haul persistence of the LIFT team to pursue offenders and gain freedom for survivors, this offender would have continued to abuse young boys in Thailand and even go on to teach others how to do the same while evading the justice system. Partnerships and perseverance won this case and Muad can move on with a new, better life.
*Muad is a pseudonym used to protect the identity of the survivor.
