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Kap Chong R Us Member
PIcture: Sanook
Sanook reported on what they said was the first case of compensation of a victim wrongly convicted in a drugs case.
Suphansa Bamphenphian, 25, spent a total of 21 months behind bars in Surin for a crime she did not commit.
The Justice Ministry has now awarded her with 283,500 in compensation for being wrongfully jailed and 188,745 in loss of earnings.
The total is thus 472,245 baht.
Relatives of Suphansa said that the jail time she served had fundamentally changed her from a happy go lucky person into someone who was mentally affected and depressed.
She was now taciturn.
Her problems began in May 2018 a few months after she met a man called Supharit who was then 21 and became her boyfriend.
She was on the back of his motorcycle when he was caught in a police sting handing over 41 Ya Ba (methamphetamine mixed with caffeine) pills.
He admitted the crime and got a 4 year six month sentence. He said she was innocent but as the family had no bail money because they were so poor she was held for eight months while her case was being sorted.
She received pro bono help from a lawyer called Khamsing Chopmee who managed to get her released after eight months.
But then the public prosecutor appealed the case and Suphansa was jailed for 5 years 12 months (this peculiarity is a feature of Thai sentencing, notes Thaivisa).
She was also fined 560,000 baht and was told as she had no money she would have to do jail time in lieu.
But Khamsing stayed on the case and managed to get it to the supreme court who decided she was innocent and ordered her release.
By then she had served another 13 months making 21 months behind bars in total.
Her lawyer and mother Patcharaporn, 53 have now finally managed to press for compensation for Suphansa but as everyone has noted, she is a changed woman.
She was innocent and suffered the mental anguish of not knowing when she would ever be released.
