Child sex abuse by Thais punished hard too

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Ex-senator jailed 36 years for child sex abuse

(BangkokPost.com) - The Supreme Court decided to stiffen a decision by a lower court by sentencing former senator Chalerm Promlert to 36 years in jail for sex crimes involving four underage girls six years ago.

Mr Chalerm was arrested in January 2001 after being accused of paying procurers to find him teenage girls for sex. He was the deputy speaker of the Senate at the time.

The four girls, who were under 15, were reportedly paid 4,000 baht each.

A lower court handed him 20-year imprisonment for the crimes.

The Supreme Court presiding judge felt Mr Chalerm should be punished more severely because he broke the law while he was a senator.

"The defendant was well aware that what he did was a serious crime," the court said in a statement.

Bangkok Post Nov. 13, 2007

That is certainly an example that they come down on Thais as hard as that. I hope it teaches.

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Former deputy Senate speaker jailed

PATHUM THANI - Former senator Chalerm Phromlert was taken to Pathum Thani Prison after the Supreme Court Tuesday upheld his 36year jail term for statutory rape.

At Thanyaburi Provincial Court, Judge Samart Ardnarong presided over the verdict in a case filed against Chalerm by five girls - three under 15 and two over 15.

The court said Chalerm was clearly guilty. He was a well-known person who knew his actions were illegal and his appeal did not carry sufficient weight to clear him.

In 2002 the Criminal Court found Chalerm guilty of four counts of statutory rape from November 2000 to January 2001 and sentenced him to four years in prison on each count. Chalerm posted Bt1 million in assets as bail.

The Appeals Court in 2005 added 20 years - five for each of four counts of molestation that the lower court had not factored into its punishment - to Chalerm's 16year sentence.

He had been freed on Bt2.5 million bail pending his final appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Nation Nov. 13, 2007

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Teachers jailed for 50 years for raping students

(BangkokPost.com) - Two public school teachers were sentenced to 50-years imprisonment each for gang raping five of their students as young as six years old.

The Criminal Court handed down the sentence to Lorn Sorakanit, 59 and Pimol Chumsri, 49 on Tuesday for sexual abuse, molestation and illegal detention of the girls aged between six and eight in June 2006.

In its ruling, the court said the girls were so young and innocent that they would not invent the rape stories to convict their teachers. Evidence also prompted court judges to believe that teachers would take turns to rape the girls and even force their classmates to watch on many occasions.

Parents of the girls filed criminal charges against the teachers in August 2006, with the help from Paveena Hongsakul organisation.

Bangkok Post Nov. 20, 2007

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Two teachers get 50 years for abusing schoolgirls

Two teachers at a primary school in Bangkok's Sai Mai district were yesterday sentenced to 50 years imprisonment each after the Criminal Court ruled that they were guilty of sexually abusing five girls aged between seven and eight years old.

The court found Lon Soraganit, 58, a C-7 supervisor of a grade 2 class and Pimol Sunsri, 49, a C-7 physical education teacher at Pracha Nukul School guilty of sexually abusing children under 13 years old, molesting children under 15 years old and illegally detaining children under 15 years of age for molestation and sexual abuse.

The two raped the five students between June 1 and Aug 10 last year, both in a school classroom and at a teacher's house.

Decha Yim-amnuay, lawyer for the two teachers, said his clients would appeal against the verdict. Mr Decha also sought bail for them yesterday.

The grandmother of one of the victims tearfully told reporters she was glad that justice had been served.

She thanked the Pavena Hongsakula Foundation, which helped her and the parents of the four other girls to bring the case to court.

The teachers deserved punishment, she said.

Lon and Pimol, who were arrested by police and charged on Aug 10 last year, had denied the charges.

They also asked acting director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan to conduct DNA tests for them, and send a team of forensic scientists, psychologists and sociologists to jointly examine the alleged crime scene and listen to the testimony of students.

However, Khunying Porntip rejected the teachers' request that she help examine the crime scene and listen to the testimony of the five students because it was not the duty of the CIFS.

In the early stage of the investigation, the teachers were given moral support by colleagues and students at the school.

The school where they worked also held a ceremony for the two teachers, who swore their innocence before a Buddha statue and a crowd of students.

An employee of the same school threatened to sue police and the Pavena Hongsakula Foundation for alleging his eight-year-old granddaughter was among the two teachers' victims.

A report prepared by the police's Crime against Children, Juveniles and Women Suppression Division identified his granddaughter as a victim and recommended the two accused teachers be indicted for sexual abuse.

The man was upset and allegedly claimed the report had tarnished his granddaughter's reputation.

Bangkok Post Nov. 21, 2007