Former Jet-Setting Monk Stripped of Robe Upon Arrival in Thailand

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20 July 2017, 12:52

Wirapol Sukphol is taken Thursday morning to the Attorney General’s Office in Bangkok.

BANGKOK — When a fugitive former monk landed in Thailand on Wednesday night, the first thing authorities did was order him to remove his robes.

Wirapol Sukphol, better known by his monastic title Luang Puu Nen Kham, denied all charges against him as he was taken for questioning at the Department of Special Investigations upon his arrival from the United States.

He was brought to the Criminal Court Thursday morning for a hearing on his continued detention after prosecutors decided to indict him for fraud, money laundering and computer crimes.

Read: DSI Says Disgraced ‘Jet-Setting Monk’ to be Extradited

Two other counts against him relating to abducting and sexually assaulting a minor expired under statutory limitations last year, according to attorney general spokesman Somnuek Siangkong.

Somnuek said prosecutors will submit their case to the court today. They will also demand Wiraphol return 28 million baht to his 29 victims.

Nenkham2 — Wirapol Sukphol arrives at the Department of Special Investigation on Wednesday night in a monk robe after leaving the United States.

The 38-year-old former monk headed a monastery in Sisaket province where he enjoyed a following of wealthy and influential people. Styling himself as a magical monk, Nen Kham was given large sums of money and luxury goods.

He appeared in the news in 2013 after photos and videos emerged of him in situations people deemed inappropriate, such as sleeping next to a woman and boarding a private jet decked out with brand name apparel. More scandals gradually emerged, including allegations he fathered a child and had sex with an underage girl.

nenkham — An image from video which emerged in 2013 shows Wirapol Sukphol or Luang Puu Nen Kham on board a private jet.

The former monk was wearing robes when he arrived in Thailand robe yesterday. He agreed to change into white clothes after the authorities informed him he was expelled from the monkhood in absentia after fleeing the country four years ago.

Wirapol had been residing in Southern California, where he claimed to have received refugee status. He had also founded a new monastery there unrelated to the sect he led in Thailand.

The director of the Department of Special Investigations said Wirapol wanted to return and defend himself in his homeland.

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Foreigner Found in Pool May Have Fallen to Death

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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20 July 2017, 12:00

SONGKHLA — A foreign man was found dead in a condominium swimming pool in Songkhla province Thursday morning, rescue personnel said.

First responders believe the man, who remains unidentified, fell from the balcony of his room because of injuries found on his body. One side of the pool also reportedly bore sign of impact.

The body was found about 5:30am at Naphalai Place.

The chief of Kho Hong Police Station said officers had yet to confirm the man found was a foreigner.

Police Lt. Col. Pongpit Upparakot who inspected the scene, could not be reached by phone as of Thursday morning.

Additional reporting Asaree Thaitrakulpanich

Update: This story has been updated with additional comments from Kho Hong police chief.

Supreme Court Jails Redshirt Leader for Defaming Former PM

By

Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter

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20 July 2017, 11:44

Redshirt leader Jatuporn Prompan is taken Thursday from the Criminal Court to prison.

BANGKOK — The Supreme Court overturned two lower court rulings Thursday to sentence Redshirt leader Jatuporn Prompan to a year in prison for defaming a former prime minister and political rival.

In its decision, the court found Jatuporn guilty for a 2009 speech delivered to an audience of thousands in Bangkok in which he accused former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of ordering soldiers to kill Redshirt supporters earlier that year at a protest in Bangkok’s Din Daeng district.

Abhisit, who remains leader of the Democrat Party, sued Jatuporn for defamation later in 2009. The Criminal Court first dismissed the case because it deemed Jatuporn’s comments to be free political discourse.

Abhisit appealed the case but lost again in 2014 when the Appeals Court acquitted Jatuporn, ruling that he had expressed an honest opinion.

The Supreme Court today reversed both lower-court decisions and handed down a one-year, unsuspended term. Jatuporn was also ordered to publish the verdict in newspapers for seven days.

Jatuporn is the chairman of the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship, a movement loyal to fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 coup and remains in exile.

Turtle-Rescuing Man is Hero of Thai Interwebs

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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20 July 2017, 11:29

At left, a rescue worker picks up a turtle dubbed ‘P’Tao’ from the road early Wednesday morning. At right, the bandaged turtle recuperates Wednesday night. Photos: Teerapon Tspeed Susilaporn / Facebook

UPDATE: P’Tao, Roadkill Martyr, Dies

BANGKOK — All the internet had rallied by Thursday behind a desperate bid to rescue a bloody and battered turtle left to die in a road by a hit-and-run driver.

Facebooker Teerapon Tspeed Susilaporn has been documenting the rescue and status of a turtle he has named “P’Tao,” (Brother Turtle), to the rapt attention of netizens. Teerapon found P’Tao with a cracked, bloody shell in the middle of the road right late Tuesday night and rushed him to a nearby clinic.

“P’Tao says he’s still got it in him, and he will fight through this,” Teerapon wrote Wednesday evening. He said the turtle was given oxygen, and the wounds to his shell were treated.

As of Thursday, the five posts about P’Tao’s rescue had been liked more than 77,000 times and shared more than 40,000 times, with the video of him lying in the road racking up more than 6 million views. The comments were flooded with get-well messages for the turtle.

“We’re waiting for the ambulance. Jai yen na. Su su! What a large turtle,” Teerapon can be heard saying in the video posted at 11pm on Tuesday. “I saw him in the middle of the road, so I parked and decided to help him.” Teerapon mentioned that he saw someone driving a BMW had hit the turtle before driving away.

The incident appeared to happen in northern metro Bangkok. Attempts to reach Teerapon for comment were unsuccessful.

Teerapon first posted photos of the turtle’s treatment at a clinic, then the Small Animal Hospital at Chulalongkorn University throughout the early hours of Wednesday morning. The turtle’s shell was completely cracked and his pelvic bone was broken, but all four of legs were intact.

“P’Tao is smiling through the pain. He says he’s still got it in him,” Teerapon wrote in a post posted at 2:30am on Wednesday. “If he knew about all the wishes you guys are sending him, he would probably say thank you.”

20155663 393559484379301 6790047489174602983 n e1500524630766 — The injured animal as found at 11pm on Tuesday in the middle of a road in Pathum Thani province.

P’Tao getting first aid 1am Wednesday at Khlong 7 Veterinary.

Teerapon drove the turtle at 2:30am on Wednesday to an animal hospital at Chulalongkorn University.

Teerapon carries P’Tao into the Small Animal Hospital at Chulalongkorn University 3:17am Wednesday.

P’Tao sports bandages on his shell Wednesday night.

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‘Forbidden Careers’ For Expats May Be Relaxed, Official Says

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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20 July 2017, 10:54

A foreigner may soon be able to work as a handicraft artisan, a job currently reserved for Thais. Original image by Matichon.

BANGKOK — An infamous list of occupations reserved only for Thais may soon be a thing of the past, a labor official said Wednesday.

Citing the outdated nature of the law and the need for more foreign workers, labor department head Waranon Pitiwan said his office is considering relaxing the decades-old regulations that reserves 39 jobs for Thai nationals.

“It’s a law that’s been used for a long time. In the present time, society has changed, so policies must change,” Waranon told reporters. “Some jobs that were forbidden may be relaxed so that foreign investors, technicians and academics can come to work here more easily.”

He said some forbidden jobs in the existing regulation don’t make any sense.

“For example, the construction sector has a lot of problems because we only allow migrant workers to work as manual laborers, yet we forbid them from masonry,” Waranon said.

Under the 1981 regulation, the 39 forbidden jobs include drivers, handcraft artisans, architects, street vendors and lawyers. The full list, which was once hilariously mistranslated, is available at the Ministry of Labor’s website.

Migrant rights activist Adisorn Kerdmongkol said the promised change is in line with a new labor law which calls for the current regulation of forbidden jobs to be re-evaluated.

Adisorn said he welcomes the plan because Thailand has changed a lot since the law was first enacted.

“The law was passed under the context of the society at the time,” he said. “There were fears of Communist threats and competition in the lower job market. Back then, Thais were working those jobs.”

Waranon, the official, said he will discuss with business operations before establishing which jobs would be open to foreigners.

The move came after harsher fines under a new trafficking law prompted about 60,000 migrant workers from Myanmar to return home and sparked fear of a labor shortage.

Rights groups have complained the exodus was fueled by the arrests and extortion of workers nationwide as soon as the law was passed, while business operators said there is not enough time to comply with the new legislation.

Asked whether he believes the abolition of some job reservations might mean harder employment for Thais, Adisorn said some occupations, such as engineers and architects, already have qualification exams that demand the applicants be Thai and speak Thai.

Instead of having a blanket ban, the government can also pass a resolution when certain Thai jobs are threatened, he said.

Doctors: Sen. John McCain Has Brain Tumor

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Associated Press

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20 July 2017, 10:17

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., arrives on Capitol Hill, July 11 in Washington. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee with a well-known maverick streak that often vexes his GOP colleagues, has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, his office said in a statement Wednesday.

The 80-year-old lawmaker has glioblastoma, an aggressive cancer, according to doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, where McCain had a blood clot removed from above his left eye last Friday.

“Subsequent tissue pathology revealed that a primary brain tumor known as a glioblastoma was associated with the blood clot,” his office said in a statement.

According to the American Brain Tumor Association, more than 12,000 people a year are diagnosed with glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive type of tumor. The American Cancer Society puts the five-year survival rate for patients over 55 at about 4 percent.

It’s the same type of tumor that struck McCain’s close Democratic colleague in legislative battles, the late Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.

The tumor digs tentacle-like roots into normal brain tissue. Patients fare best when surgeons can cut out all the visible tumor, which happened with McCain’s tumor, according to his office. That isn’t a cure; cancerous cells that aren’t visible still tend to lurk, the reason McCain’s doctors are considering further treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation.

In a statement on Twitter, his daughter, Meghan McCain, spoke of the shock of the news and the anxiety over what happens next. “My love for my father is boundless and like any daughter I cannot and do not wish to be in a world without him. I have faith that those days remain far away,” she said.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said he spoke to McCain Wednesday evening. Graham said McCain told him: “Yeah, I’m going to have to stay here a little bit longer, take some treatments. I’ll be back.”

The senator and chairman of the Armed Services Committee had been recovering at his Arizona home. His absence had forced Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to delay action on health care legislation. McCain had been slated to oversee debate of the sweeping defense policy bill in the coming weeks.

As word spread of his diagnosis, presidents past and present along with McCain’s current and former Senate colleagues offered support in an outpouring rarely seen in Washington.

“Senator John McCain has always been a fighter. Melania and I send our thoughts and prayers to Senator McCain, Cindy, and their entire family. Get well soon,” President Donald Trump said.

Barack Obama, who dashed McCain’s dreams of the presidency, said in a tweet: “John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.”

McCain has a lifetime of near-death experiences – surviving the July 1967 fire and explosion on the USS Forrestal that killed 134 sailors; flying into power lines in Spain; the October 1967 shoot-down of his Navy aircraft and fall into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi; and 5 1/2 years in a North Vietnamese prison.

“The Hanoi Hilton couldn’t break John McCain’s spirit many years ago, so Barbara and I know – with confidence – he and his family will meet this latest battle in his singular life of service with courage and determination,” said former President George H.W. Bush.

McConnell called McCain a “hero to our conference and a hero to our country.” Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware said McCain “is a fighter, and I am hopeful he will once again beat the odds.” Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey described McCain as “undoubtedly the toughest man in the United States Senate.”

Politics aside, McCain and Bill Clinton developed a strong friendship, and the former president said: “As he’s shown his entire life, don’t bet against John McCain. Best wishes to him for a swift recovery.”

McCain’s office disclosed the removal of the blood clot late Saturday and said the senator was awaiting pathology reports. In the past, McCain had been treated for melanoma, but a primary tumor is unrelated. Doctors said McCain is recovering from his surgery amazingly well and his underlying health is excellent.

With his irascible grin and fighter-pilot moxie, McCain was elected to the Senate from Arizona six times, but twice thwarted in seeking the presidency.

An upstart presidential bid in 2000 didn’t last long. Eight years later, he fought back from the brink of defeat to win the GOP nomination, only to be overpowered by Obama. McCain chose a little-known Alaska governor as his running mate in that race, and helped turn Sarah Palin into a national political figure.

After losing to Obama in an electoral landslide, McCain returned to the Senate, determined not to be defined by a failed presidential campaign. And when Republicans took control of the Senate in 2015, McCain embraced his new job as chairman of the powerful Armed Services Committee, eager to play a big role “in defeating the forces of radical Islam that want to destroy America.”

Throughout his long tenure in Congress, McCain has played his role with trademark verve, at one hearing dismissing a protester by calling out, “Get out of here, you low-life scum.”

He tangled with McConnell over campaign finance, joined forces with Democrats on immigration and most recently had a very public spat with Sen. Rand Paul. McCain said the Kentucky Republican was working for Russian President Vladimir Putin after he blocked a vote on allowing Montenegro into NATO. Paul said McCain had gotten “unhinged.”

Early in the 2016 campaign, McCain largely held his tongue when Trump questioned his status as a war hero by saying: “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

McCain stuck by Trump at times seemingly through gritted teeth – until the release a month before the election of a lewd audio in which Trump said he could kiss and grab women. Declaring that the breaking point, McCain withdrew his support and said he would write in “some good conservative Republican who’s qualified to be president.”

In an interview with The Associated Press in 2013, McCain spoke of his decades in Congress, legislative achievements and political defeats.

“The last thing I am is bitter and angry. … I’ve had the most full life. I would compare my life to anybody that I’ve ever known and it’s been one of great good fortune and I’m grateful every day,” he said.

Story: Donna Cassata

Australia to Help Sri Lanka Fight Worst-Ever Dengue Outbreak

By

Associated Press

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20 July 2017, 10:12

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, left, talks with her Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj as they leave for a delegation level meeting Tuesday in New Delhi, India. Photo: Manish Swarup / Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Australia is contributing funds to help Sri Lanka combat its worst outbreak of dengue fever, which has claimed 250 lives and infected nearly 100,000 people so far this year in the Indian Ocean island nation.

Visiting Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Wednesday night that Australia is giving 475,000 Australian dollars (USD $377,000) to the World Health Organization to implement immediate dengue prevention, management and eradication programs in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s hospitals are overcrowded with patients, and the government has deployed soldiers, police and health officials to inspect houses and clear rotting garbage, stagnant water pools and other potential mosquito-breeding grounds across the country. Health officials blamed the public for their failure to clear puddles and piles of trash after last month’s heavy monsoon rains.

The number of infections nationwide is already 38 percent higher than last year, when 55,150 people were diagnosed with dengue and 97 died, according to the Health Ministry. Cases were concentrated around the main city of Colombo, though they were occurring across the tropical island nation.

Bishop is on a two-day visit and will meet Thursday with government leaders

She said Australia is offering an additional 1 million dollars (USD $795,000) for a research partnership between Australia’s Monash University and Sri Lanka’s Health Ministry to test the introduction of naturally occurring Wolbachia bacteria to eradicate dengue fever from Sri Lanka.

She said the bacteria “prevent transmission of dengue virus between humans” and that it has shown success during the last six years in countries such as Brazil, Columbia, Australia, India, Vietnam and Indonesia where it was piloted.

The bacteria have the ability to block other mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika and Chikungunya, the Australian embassy said in a statement.

Story: Bharatha Mallawarachi

Concern Rises Over Press Freedom In Suu Kyi’s Myanmar

By

Associated Press

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20 July 2017, 10:02

Myanmar's Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi greets leaders of armed ethnic groups during their meeting at a hotel last year in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Photo: Aung Shine Oo / Associated Press

YANGON — In the old, military-ruled Myanmar, it would not have been a surprising scene: three journalists, bound together in chains, raising shackled hands in unison and speaking out against their repressive government.

But this moment, captured on video by a local news organization, the Democratic Voice of Burma, was not from another era. It was recorded Tuesday, and it underscores how little has changed in the Southeast Asian country since the party led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate and longtime opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi won elections a year and a half ago.

“Just look at these chains. This is what we get for being journalists,” said Lawi Weng, one of three reporters detained by the military on June 26 for covering a drug-burning ceremony organized by an ethnic rebel group in the northeast.

“How can we say this is democracy?” Weng asked before entering a police van headed back to jail after a brief court hearing in Shan state’s Hsipaw township.

The reporters each face three years in prison for violating the nation’s Unlawful Associations Act, which was designed to punish people who associate with or assist “illegal” groups – in this case, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, one of more than a dozen small rebel armies that control patches of territory in the north and east. The rebels burned a cache of narcotics to mark the United Nations’ International Day Against Drug Abuse.

Members of various rebel groups, along with their sympathizers and some aid workers, have been prosecuted under the Unlawful Associations Act. But rarely, if ever, have journalists – many of whom travel regularly to zones controlled by the Ta’ang and other insurgent groups.

It’s unclear why these journalists were singled out. Suu Kyi’s government, which is struggling to broker a nationwide cease-fire with the country’s rebel armies, simply says they broke the law and should have informed security forces before visiting a conflict zone.

The arrests, combined with the prosecution of critics who have spoken out against the nation’s military and civilian authorities, have surprised many who thought Suu Kyi’s rise would herald a new era of freedom of expression.

Suu Kyi spent nearly 15 years under house arrest during the nation’s long era of military rule, and she was praised worldwide for leading the struggle for democracy. Although her administration is officially in charge, the military still wields most power.

Shawn Crispin, Southeast Asia representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said Suu Kyi’s administration continues to use “antiquated laws to threaten and imprison journalists.”

“Reporters are still being targeted for reprisals and imprisoned for their reporting,” Crispin said. “Frankly, that’s not what we thought an Aung San Suu Kyi-led government would condone or promote. It’s been massively disappointing.”

The New York-based press freedom group, which has called for the reporters to be released, had hoped the administration would “prioritize amending or scrapping these draconian provisions,” Crispin said. “To our dismay, they’ve chosen to use them to suppress criticism instead.”

Since Suu Kyi’s party swept elections in November 2015, at least 67 lawsuits have been filed under the controversial Telecommunications Law, which had been employed by the former military governments to punish dissent and prosecute those who took part in the pro-democracy struggle.

The law targets anyone “extorting, coercing, restraining, wrongfully defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening to any person.”

At least a dozen people have been charged so far, according to the Telecom-Law Research Team, an independent research group. Several suits have involved alleged insults against Suu Kyi, among them a woman now serving a six-month jail term for criticizing her on social media.

In addition to Lawi Weng, who works for the Irrawaddy media outlet, the two other journalists detained after crossing into rebel territory in Shan state are Aye Nai and Pyae Bone Naing, both from the Democratic Voice of Burma.

Their court appearances have repeatedly been changed without notice, fueling speculation authorities want to minimize media coverage.

Charles Santiago, a Malaysian lawmaker who chairs the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, said that “covering developments in conflict areas is already dangerous work.”

“Journalists shouldn’t have to add to their list of worries the possibility that the military might imprison them based on a century-old law that clearly wasn’t intended to apply to them and should have been repealed altogether long ago,” he said.

Speaking after their court appearance Tuesday, journalist Aye Nai said Democratic Voice of Burma reporters had traveled repeatedly to other rebel zones controlled by insurgent groups like the Kachin, the Karen and other minorities fighting for greater autonomy.

They had not been charged before, and should not be now, he said.

The government has reached provisional cease-fires with many of the rebel groups. The Ta’ang are among several still fighting, however, along with allies Kachin Independence Army and the Shan State Army-South.

“The government that was elected by the people should … amend these laws,” Aye Nai said. And even though they have detained us, “the belief we have in media will never fade away. We (will) do our job.”

Story: Esther Htusan, Todd Pitman

Cops Blamed for Flaws Sparing Jenphop of DUI Charge

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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19 July 2017, 18:01

Jenphop Viraporn arrives at the court in Ayutthaya province on Wednesday

AYUTTHAYA — Citing a flawed police investigation, a court dismissed a DUI count against businessman Jenphop Viraporn, whose trial for a car crash that killed two grad students ended Wednesday in a guilty verdict.

The court found Jenphop, 39, guilty of all charges filed by the prosecutor except the most serious: fatal DUI, which carries a 10-year jail sentence. Instead, Jenphop was sentenced to a jail term of two and a half years on lesser charges. Incomplete evidence and contradictory testimony from the police were cited by the court as grounds for the dismissal.

Nevertheless, the families of the two victims, Krissana Thaworn and Thantapat Horsaengchai, said they were pleased with the verdict.

Read: Jenphop Takes Stand to Discuss Drug Use, Fatal Crash

“I am satisfied that the court stressed the importance of safe driving,” Nongkarat Rungsaeng, Krissana’s sister, said Wednesday. “Society should see that when they drive recklessly, it can lead to loss and punishment.”

Jenphop’s driver’s license was also revoked for life.

Kanchana Horsaengchai, a sister of Thantapat, likewise said she welcomed the ruling.

“Our family did not have any expectation of what the verdict might be,” Kanchana told reporters.

Jenphop’s case drew much attention on social media due to his background as the scion of a luxury car dealership.

Reading the verdict Wednesday morning, judge Waikoon Sawangsuree said Jenphop drove with evident recklessness prior to the fatal crash on March 13, 2016, passing through several toll booths on the expressway without paying. A video also showed Jenphop breaking through a toll booth when one of the barriers failed to lift open.

At the time he slammed his Mercedes Benz into the back of a Ford on an Ayutthaya highway he was driving at 257 kph, the judge said. The impact set the Ford on fire and killed Krissana, 34, and Thantapat, 32.

Both victims were graduate students at a Buddhist university in the province.

For the deadly crash, the court found Jenphop guilty of a number of charges, including fatal reckless driving, speeding and driving without regard for others’ safety. He received a jail term of five years, which was halved to two years and six months because he pled guilty.

Jenphop and his family declined to speak to reporters after the verdict was read. A lawyer representing Jenphop simply said he accepted the court’s ruling.

The defendant was briefly detained after the verdict was read. He was eventually granted a bail release on the bond money of 200,000 baht. His also filed an appeal.

Unlawful Evidence

However, the most serious charge filed against Jenphop – driving under the influence – was dismissed by the court on grounds of insufficient evidence. It carried a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.

Police filed the charge after Jenphop allegedly refused to undergo a sobriety test in the aftermath of the crash. Under the law, refusal to take such test automatically leads to a charge of DUI. Police also charged him with obstructing law enforcement officers.

Jenphop disputed the allegation, insisting that he did not object to the tests.

Judge Waikoon said a lot of the evidence supplied by police was flawed. For instance, one investigator testified that he asked Jenphop to take sobriety test in front of an X-Ray room at the hospital, while two hospital staff members told the court the officer asked him in the emergency room.

An initial police report of the crash did not mention the businessman declining the sobriety test, Waikoon said.

Documents detailing Jenphop’s alleged refusal also lack proper signatures and stamps, while one paper contained some sentences that were crossed out and edited without Jenphop’s knowledge, the judge noted.

“Therefore the evidence collected is not considered lawful under the criminal procedure act,” Waikoon said. He subsequently dismissed the charge.

In an infamous television interview that later went viral on the internet, a local police chief admitted he did not insist on a sobriety test on Jenphop, but only “asked” the hospital to do so.

The officer, Col. Pongpat Suksawasdi, also said Jenphop had the right to decline the test if he wished. His remarks sparked outrage on social media, where many suspect police were easy on him due to his affluence.

Lawyer Disappointed

Speaking to reporters after the ruling, lawyer Wichian Chubthaisong, who represents Thantapat’s family, said he was disappointed to see the DUI charge dismissed.

“I was hoping the court would set a precedence in this case,” Wichian told reporters. “There should be a clear standard of how people who refuse sobriety tests should be treated.”

Asked whether he would take action against police investigators for bungling evidence against Jenphop, the lawyer said he needs to study the verdict in detail before committing to any action.

“I have to see the details, what flaws there were in the documents,” Wichian said. “But I’m sure that if there really are errors, the system has a way to rectify the situation.”

14586354621458635489l — Krissana ‘Tong’ Thaworn, at left, and Thantapat ‘Benz’ Horsaengchai in a promotional image for their university’s program on Buddhist peace studies. Image: MCU website

Jenphop was not charged for the crash on March 13, 2016, until four days later. Police only took action after a video of the high-speed crash surfaced on the internet, causing widespread uproar.

Many on social media drew a parallel between Jenphop and other high-profile suspects in fatal car crashes that appear to avoid the full blunt of the laws.

As though sensing his ruling would spark another round of controversy, judge Waikoon said at the beginning of today’s session that groundless criticism of the verdict could result in contempt of the court.

“I’d like to warn all sides that the verdict can be criticized on the basis of reason. But criticism based on emotion is at risk of legal action,” Waikoon said. “It is impossible to render a verdict that would satisfy everyone.”

‘EastEnders’ Actor Survives Samui Waterfall Plunge

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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19 July 2017, 16:41

KOH SAMUI — A British actor trapped three days after falling down a waterfall is currently recovering on Koh Samui, rescue workers said Wednesday.

Paul Nicholls, known for roles in “EastEnders” and “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason,” fell July 10 down the vacation island’s Khun Si waterfall, where he remained injured before being rescued Thursday.

“When we found him, he was confused and rambling, with a wounded knee and his body half submerged in water,” Phumchit Kamrun, a foundation rescue worker based on the island said Wednesday. “He could still speak but was rambling about how he had been there for three days.”

Phumchit himself was on Nicholls’s rescue team. He said the 38 year old came to vacation on Koh Samui alone and was hiking around the waterfall when he fell. Residents realized a foreigner was missing when they found his motorcycle nearby.

falls — Khun Sri Waterfall on Koh Samui. Photo: Google.

“He fell down and didn’t have the strength to move because of his knee. He couldn’t walk at all. He had various wounds, including a rash all over his skin. His wound was pretty raw from being wet all the time,” Phumchit said.

Nicholls is recuperating at International Koh Samui Hospital. Word of his injury spread after it was reported in British tabloids such as the Daily Mail.

Signs and ropes cordon off the area atop the waterfall, Phumchit said, adding that Nicholls must have ignored them.

Phumchit said accidents are not uncommon around that particular waterfall.

“Maybe around three people every three years,” he said.

Phumchit added he wasn’t aware that the man he rescued was a celebrity. “Oh, he’s a famous actor?” said the rescue worker upon being informed of Nicholls’ stardom.

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