Police officer involved in fatal road accident causing female doctor’s death gets 10-year sentence

[webfact]

 

The Court of Appeals increased the sentence of a police officer who fatally struck a doctor on a Bangkok zebra crossing.

 

Police Lance Corporal Norawit Buadok, riding a red Ducati big bike, crashed into ophthalmologist Waralak Supawat-Jariyakul on January 21, 2022. The tragic incident occurred in front of Bhumirajanagarindra Kidney Institute Hospital on Phya Thai Road. Waralak, flung into the air by the impact, succumbed to her injuries, sparking a widely reported legal battle.

 

Initially handed a seemingly lenient one year and 15 day sentence, Norawit found himself at the centre of controversy when the grieving family decried the punishment as insufficient for a law enforcer. The Appeals Court, heeding the family’s impassioned appeal, delivered a resounding verdict yesterday, January 17, catapulting Norawit’s sentence to a staggering 10 years and two months.

 

Investigators revealed that at the time of the collision, Norawit was hurtling at an alarming speed between 108 and 128 kilometres per hour, well beyond the prescribed limit of 80 kilometres per hour.

 

by Puntid Tantivangphaisal

Photo courtesy of The Nation

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2024-01-18

 

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[dcsw53]

Why is it staggering ? Only in Thailand.
If he had shot her he would have got the same, driving his bike at a dangerous speed for no good reason in a residential area deserves this result. Then of course he will get early parole.

[proton]

How long if she had been a Cambodian cleaner? or Thai noodle seller?

[Chris Daley]

Reduced to 3 days.

[mr_lob]

The a*hole who killed one of our drivers and 2 French customers because of his dangerous driving received a 5000 baht fine and no jail time. Fair? 

[tonypattaya]

12 minutes ago, mr_lob said:

The a*hole who killed one of our drivers and 2 French customers because of his dangerous driving received a 5000 baht fine and no jail time. Fair? 

 

[tonypattaya]

12 minutes ago, mr_lob said:

The a*hole who killed one of our drivers and 2 French customers because of his dangerous driving received a 5000 baht fine and no jail time. Fair? 

You do not give details of the incident or a view of where the blame lies. It can therefore be assumed, from the penalty, that the poor souls who lost their lives were at fault.

[JulesMad]

3 hours ago, proton said:

How long if she had been a Cambodian cleaner? or Thai noodle seller?

Also, how long if he had been a senior police officer or son of (fill in a hi-so name)?

[newnative]

Good . . . but not good that the sentence only got increased because of massive bad publicity--which is usually the case, unfortunately.  

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, tonypattaya said:

1 hour ago, mr_lob said:

The a*hole who killed one of our drivers and 2 French customers because of his dangerous driving received a 5000 baht fine and no jail time. Fair? 

You do not give details of the incident or a view of where the blame lies. It can therefore be assumed, from the penalty, that the poor souls who lost their lives were at fault.

 

That depends on how bias your Thai Apologist attitudes are...    It could also be assumed that Thailands justice system is horrifically unequal...   As the question earlier... "what if she had been a Cambodian cleaner? or Thai noodle seller?"....

 

But, I also agree - there needs to be details included in the above 'killed 2 french customers' comment for us to accurately evaluate the balance. 

 

 

Obviously this next comment can easily be contested, but, my 'speculation' is that had this incident involved a tourist or a poor Thai the attention would obviously be less as would the penalty. 

 

 

 

 

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Initially handed a seemingly lenient one year and 15 day sentence, Norawit found himself at the centre of controversy when the grieving family decried the punishment as insufficient for a law enforcer. The Appeals Court, heeding the family’s impassioned appeal, delivered a resounding verdict yesterday, January 17, catapulting Norawit’s sentence to a staggering 10 years and two months.

10 years for causing death is hardly staggering, it should be mandatory.

[rwill]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

10 years for causing death is hardly staggering, it should be mandatory.

10 years = 5 years with a confession

[Dogmatix]

5 hours ago, proton said:

How long if she had been a Cambodian cleaner? or Thai noodle seller?

There is some data on this. A rich guy's son did a hit and run on a female Cambodian migrant worker in his sports car. The woman was decapitated by the impact and her torso went through the windscreen and ended up in the passenger seat.  Still the rich kid didn't stop and drove off with a shattered windscreen and the headless corpse of the woman for company in his passenger seat.  I am pretty sure he got a light sentence.   

[mr_lob]

3 hours ago, tonypattaya said:

You do not give details of the incident or a view of where the blame lies. It can therefore be assumed, from the penalty, that the poor souls who lost their lives were at fault.

They were absolutely NOT at fault! The truck was 7.5 tonne size, he was speeding, undertaking, then lost control and crossed the central reservation, hitting our SUV head on. I have it all on dashcam. 

The penalty, sir, speaks volumes for yet another miscarriage of justice, which happen here daily.

The coppers actually told me when i asked how long the driver would get that the court was very sympathetic to the driver *song-saan*. And for the families he destroyed? Disgusting.

[john donson]

and the family got 30+ million?  while a cambodian's family gets nothing or 5k