Justice in South-East Asia

[ronrat]

<split from "gender and domestic violence" thread>

This happened about 10 kms from me. My take on it is she did what she as a 12 year old thought was the only way out. It is unlikely she will go to jail and to be honest should not be charged at all. After all the heir to Red Bull killed a traffic cop by reckless driving in his ferrari and fled overseas and they are not doing much to bring him to justice.


Girl, 12, held for killing boss who raped her

A seafood restaurant owner who repeatedly raped a 12-year-old employee was stabbed to death by the girl during another attack, Najomtien police say.



The body of Jeerawat Songsawang, 53, was found near the restroom of his Alex & Moo restaurant on Khlong Nammao Beach at Najomtien Soi 18 Dec. 8. He had a single, fatal stab wound to the chest from a knife recovered at the scene.



Wife Nantawan Songsawang, 51, admitted she moved the body before police arrived but denied she had seen or heard the killing. Employees Teerawat Sudpumkaew, 35, was drunk but said he wasn’t in the restaurant when the killing happened. The 12-year-old girl also denied knowledge of what happened.



However, police said they quickly determined that Jeerawat had been sexually abusing the young girl, repeatedly molesting her after getting drunk in the restaurant while his wife slept in the next room. Each time he threatened the girl not to tell anyone, police said.



Read more: http://www.pattayamail.com/news/girl-12-held-killing-boss-raped-236693

[stui magpie]

I hope she gets off. The article says she stabbed him with a vegetable peeler, that's a fair hit, one shot kill. Good on her.

[Bruce Gonsalves]

[stui magpie]

I have NFI how Thailand's legal system works, but you'd like to think a 12 year old:

a, wouldn't be tried as an adult
b, be able to get off on self defence

[David]

This is in some respects similar to an old case in the US that has been receiving a lot of publicity.

https://theappeal.org/not-a-cardboard-cut-out-cyntoia-brown-and-the-framing-of-a-victim-aa61f80f9cbb/

In each instance the killer was a minor who had been severely victimised, though Brown's case was a little more complex as it's not entirely clear that she was acting in self-defence (she claims that she was, but the court rightly or wrongly found otherwise). What's most extraordinary to me here though is that a minor (and one in a situation with considerable mitigating, if perhaps not entirely exculpating, circumstances) can receive such a massive sentence.

Unlike many, I don't want to suggest that the life of the man she killed (who may or may not have known she was underage) was worth nothing, and I would hate to see a legal system based on such a principle. It was right that the case was pursued, and a short jail sentence may have been warranted (depending on the facts of the case). But surely she has well and truly served her time by now.

[HAL]

I somehow though she had.

[ronrat]

David I will defer to the mothers and fathers of girls who reached asulthood. But I imagine the difference between
1. a 12 year old who is probably washing dishes, scrubbing pots and doing menial tasks like fetching bags of rice, runs to 7-11 for ingredients and is probably a relative of the wife or husband. She gets free board and maybe if really lucky 100 dollars a month.
2. a 16 year old streetwise kid livng away from home with apimp boyfriend and soliciting for sex.

The USA girl story is tragic for a number of reasons. But imagine if you allow your daughter who is 12 to live with an aunt and work a bit for some money and go to school during the day is up for murder because the people charged with looking after her had abused her and whats more a number of crimainal offences including rape, possibly incest, underage sex and a few other crimes.

Hopefully some of the NGOs swanning around SE Asia In new 4WDs and eating at 4 and 5b star restaurants will do something for this poor Thai girl.

[David]

The cases aren’t by any means identical – it goes without saying that there’s a big difference between 12 and 16, and in other facts of the cases – but I was nonetheless struck by the similarities. In both cases, there’s a huge disconnect between how the majority of society would perceive the victim/perpetrator (basically, that each girl should be given a bravery medal) and how the law seems to have reacted.

[think positive]

Be good o see. Kardashian do something decenthtope she follows through

[ronrat]

SARABURI — A government official in Saraburi province resigned Wednesday after footage emerged of him trying to convince a 12-year-old girl into saying she was not gang-raped.

Sangwan Sitthipanya, a top local administrator, was pressured into resigning following the release of the clip one day after the victim’s father accused him of discouraging him from reporting the alleged assault of his daughter by five teen boys.

“Tell me honestly what they did to you. Did you orgasm?” a man can be heard telling the girl in the clip posted online. “Let’s talk first about what we should do. She’s kind of a slut.”

Update: No Bail For Saraburi Teens Accused of Raping 12-Year-Old

Sirichai Pratoomma, the deputy district chief, today identified Sangwan as the man in the video. He said the administration wanted his immediate resignation because he damaged its reputation. Sangwan reportedly resigned hours later.

The father of the girl went public about the story yesterday, claiming that Sangwan was related to one of the accused.

In an online post, he said he was in Bangkok on Sunday when he was informed by a friend that his daughter was assaulted at a local grocery shop. He also admitted to taking violent action against the teens and their parents in response, saying the police set the boys free while charging him with causing bodily harm.

The father said today that another girl was also assaulted along with his daughter.

Lt. Col. Monchai Roongrueangset of the Saraburi City police said Tuesday they would pursue both cases. He said they had to wait for child protection experts before interrogating the five teens – all minors – accused of raping the girl.


The little bastards are now back in juvenile detention with bail refused. The official resigned before they could sack him. The father will probably get off with a small fine.

[David]

There’s certainly something to be said for centralisation. Regional authorities can be real corruption magnets.

[ronrat]

[think positive]

Oh wow, that’s so interesting! Does everyone do it, isthere like a 5 or 20 year limit on it?

[K]

[David]

^ It is, K – why not read the post again before asking? TP is clearly referring to Singaporean national service.