Court Verdict: Ex-abbot Gets 150 Yrs For Rapes

[george]

COURT VERDICT: Ex-abbot gets 150 yrs for rapes

Famous monk abused young hilltribe girls

NAKHON PHATHOM: -- After a nine-year trial, the former abbot of Wat Samphran in Nakhon Pathom province was sentenced to 150 years in jail yesterday for raping nine underage hilltribe girls while he was in the monkhood.

Chamlong Konsue, 55, better known by his monastic name Bhavana Buddho, was convicted by the Bangkok Criminal Court of raping the nine underage girls, who were participants in the monk's project to adopt hilltribe children from Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son provinces.

Once a popular monk with a large following, Chamlong was disrobed when the sexual offences came to light in a major scandal in 1995. During the long-running legal prosecution, he was granted bail and continued to live at Wat Samphran.

Despite the 150-year sentence, Chamlong, who appeared in court throughout the trial wearing a brown robe similar to those worn by certain Thai monks, would "only" have to serve 50 years because of Thai legal limits - if he lives that long.

Seven nuns at Wat Samphran were accused of procuring the children for Chamlong between 1988 and 1995.

Six of the women were convicted and received jail terms ranging from three to 20 years, while the other woman's case was dropped.

After the trial, Chamlong and the six convicted women said they planned to appeal and requested bail, presenting title deeds for land in Nakhon Pathom's Sam Phran and Bang Len districts worth Bt22 million. The court forwarded the bail request to an appeals court.

Chamlong is being held in prison pending a decision on the bail request.

Chamlong was arrested in 1995 after several of the raped girls' parents complained to police. The trial took nine years due to the large number of accused and the numerous requests for postponements by both the defence and prosecution.

Like Chamlong, the seven accused former nuns were granted bail and lived at Wat Samphran over the nine years.

Before his fall from grace, Chamlong was widely revered among Thai people. Stickers with pictures of Bhavana Buddho were popular among taxi and truck drivers, who believed the stickers protected them from accidents.

--The Nation 2004-06-22

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Hmmm 150 years. That is a bit too long for me. I think that I will behave myself instead.

[castelleone]

Moral of the story: even clerics are not free from abusing minors

[john b good]

Moral of the story: even clerics are not free from abusing minors

Many of the "clerics" only join up (become monks) to run away from their responsibilities in the outside world.

Of the several hundreds of thousands of them (I read somewhere that there are 500,000 monks in the realm) quite a goodly number have been criminals (both convicted and lucky) prior to enlisting and getting into their safron habits.

One of my wifes rellies was convicted of converting vehicles and after he did his time he joined up and became a pillar of Thai society (well not quite )

And there have over recent years been a number of cases where young female tourists who have been raped and murdered whilst visiting temples.

It's good to see that they got at least one of them (and so much for his female procurers. Seems like they are real nice ladies as well )

Just another case of TIT

Copy off the article and send it to all your friends back home.

[Tornado]

"After the trial, Chamlong and the six convicted women said they planned to appeal and requested bail, presenting title deeds for land in Nakhon Pathom's Sam Phran and Bang Len districts worth Bt22 million. The court forwarded the bail request to an appeals court. "

That seems to be a lot of land assets for a monk?

How much land would that be? as it is in the middle of nowhere - it must be at least 1 thousand Rai or the whole main street.

[maerim]

Hmmm 150 years. That is a bit too long for me. I think that I will behave myself instead

His new lawyer said he could get it reduced by half.

[Aikido]

maybe budhism is linked to the catholic church or is trying to take a leaf out of its book!

[TaxinMeter]

What if he gets reborn before those 150 years are up? Does he have to go back to prison?

[kat]

Moral of the story: even clerics are not free from abusing minors

Many of the "clerics" only join up (become monks) to run away from their responsibilities in the outside world.

Of the several hundreds of thousands of them (I read somewhere that there are 500,000 monks in the realm) quite a goodly number have been criminals (both convicted and lucky) prior to enlisting and getting into their safron habits.

One of my wifes rellies was convicted of converting vehicles and after he did his time he joined up and became a pillar of Thai society (well not quite )

And there have over recent years been a number of cases where young female tourists who have been raped and murdered whilst visiting temples.

It's good to see that they got at least one of them (and so much for his female procurers. Seems like they are real nice ladies as well )

Just another case of TIT

Copy off the article and send it to all your friends back home.

Can you say more about women being raped and murdered at temples? Thanks.

[eyespan]

Can you say more about women being raped and murdered at temples? Thanks.

Fair and interesting. Yes please do elaborate.

[Dutchy2]

COURT VERDICT: Ex-abbot gets 150 yrs for rapes

Famous monk abused young hilltribe girls

NAKHON PHATHOM: -- After a nine-year trial, the former abbot of Wat Samphran in Nakhon Pathom province was sentenced to 150 years in jail yesterday for raping nine underage hilltribe girls while he was in the monkhood.

It took nine years to come to an sentence for raping nine underage girls, I wonder how many years it would have taken to do 'justice' in Thailand when he would have raped 15 underage girls... it's really sad... Thaksin having a PhD in criminal justice unfortunatly doesn't benefit the justice system at all, it works actually the other way round....