The Appeal Court Region 2 has upheld a five-year prison sentence for a child carer accused of swapping a five-month-old baby in Pattaya, Chon Buri, with the child’s biological mother still searching for her missing daughter.
Get today's headlines by email 
The ruling was delivered on 8 May 2026 at Pattaya Provincial Court. Wichuda, also known as Som, aged 32, arrived at court with her lawyer and relatives to hear the appeal verdict in the child abduction case.
The court upheld the lower court’s ruling, sentencing her to 10 years in prison. However, because she confessed, the sentence was reduced by half to five years. Her lawyer later submitted the same bail guarantee of 25,000 baht while seeking temporary release pending further legal proceedings, although it was not immediately known whether bail would be granted.
The case dates back to allegations that Joy, a 24-year-old mother, entrusted her newborn daughter to Wichuda shortly after birth. The child was allegedly taken away and replaced with another infant when the baby was only five months old.
The case was brought to police attention by Paweena Hongsakul of the Paweena Hongsakul Foundation for Children and Women, together with Chon Buri social development official Janchira Thaibandit. They accompanied Joy to Bang Lamung Police Station to seek assistance in locating her biological daughter, who remains missing.
Joy told reporters after the ruling that she was satisfied with the court’s decision and grateful that Wichuda had been punished. She said she remained upset because the accused had not revealed the truth about what happened to her daughter.
A relative of the accused, identified as Bee, Wichuda’s brother-in-law, said he did not believe she would have sold the child. He described her as kind-hearted, fond of children and a mother of four herself.
Bee said Wichuda had previously told him she had “lost the child” and sought his advice after the incident. He added that he had accompanied her to court and police meetings throughout the case and believed she had no intention of making the child disappear.
The Paweena Hongsakul Foundation for Children and Women is expected to continue coordinating with Bang Lamung police in efforts to locate the missing girl and reunite her with her mother.
Amarin reported that Joy publicly thanked the courts, police, the Paweena foundation team, and journalists for helping pursue the case. She also appealed to the media to continue helping search for her missing daughter.
Picture courtesy of Daily News
Related story
Mother-seeks-missing-child-in-Bang-Lamung
Join the discussion? 
Already a member? 
Adapted by ASEAN Now Amarin 9 May 2026