Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Other Buddhist institutions and contexts Buddhist institutions and lineages Ban Phru subdistrict, Hat Yai district, Songkhla Province, Thailand · 2026

Thailand: temple emptied of monks and novices as police investigate an abbot after four novices report repeated sexual abuse

Record class

Context only

Evidence status

Active investigation

Authority role

Unnamed abbot (and an older novice separately implicated toward younger boys), temple in Ban Phru subdistrict, Hat Yai district, Songkhla Province

Organization

Buddhist temple, Ban Phru subdistrict, Hat Yai district, Songkhla (name not published in reporting)

Spiritual nexus

The four novices were resident minors under the abbot's direct institutional authority and physically housed within his temple; the shared dormitory/work hall that authority controlled is where the abuse is alleged to have repeatedly occurred.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2026-06-26 · active investigation ordered

    Thai police, Songkhla Province. On 26 June 2026 Police Major General Thirasak Chaiyotha ordered an active investigation into the temple's abbot after four novices, aged 13-14, reported being forced to perform sexual acts inside a hall used for sleeping and working at the temple on multiple occasions since January 2026, with a report that an older novice had separately directed similar conduct toward the younger boys. The investigation followed complaints filed by guardians after one boy fled the temple on 24 June 2026. The abbot initially denied the allegations and was reported unreachable by phone. The remaining six novices were relocated to another temple, leaving the facility without monks or novices. No charges had been filed as of the sources consulted; entered at active-investigation tier.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • the abbot's institutional authority over novices aged 13-14 resident at the temple
  • use of a shared sleeping/working hall within the temple as the location where the boys were repeatedly forced into sexual acts

Primary record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting investigation report Thaiger, 'Songkhla monk under investigation as four novices report sexual abuse'.

Full account of the four novices' ages and allegations, the dormitory/work-hall location, the investigation order, the abbot's denial, and the relocation of the remaining novices.

Related record

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