Picture courtesy of Khaosod.

 

A senior monk from a well-known temple in Phitsanulok has been taken into custody after his pickup truck collided head-on with a motorbike, killing a 20-year-old female student and seriously injuring her younger sister in Phichit Province.

 

Police Lieutenant Wacharapong Nanta, deputy investigator at Yaenyaw Police Station, received a report of the fatal collision on Khlong Chonprathan Road, Moo 8, Yaenyaw subdistrict, Mueang district, Phichit. Emergency responders rushed to the scene.

 

They found an Isuzu Dragon pickup bearing Phitsanulok plates had struck a Honda Giorno Plus motorbike with Phichit registration. The motorbike was badly damaged and had fallen into the irrigation canal.

 

The deceased was identified as Ms. Thitaporn, known as “Film”, 20, a university student. Her body was found face down with a broken right leg, severe head injuries and facial bruising.

 

Around 10 metres away, her sister Ms. Waranya, known as “Phak Kad”, 17, was found with both legs broken. She was rushed to Phichit Hospital in critical condition.

 

The pickup driver, Phra Boonlert, 63, a monk from a temple in Bang Krathum district, Phitsanulok, was present at the scene alongside other monks. He was taken to Yaenyaw Police Station for questioning.

 

Police said the sisters had been travelling from Phitsanulok to visit their aunt during the long weekend. The monk had been returning from a religious ceremony in Ban Wang Kradi Thong and attempted to overtake another vehicle at high speed. He failed to complete the manoeuvre, crashing head-on into the sisters’ motorbike and sending it into the canal.

 

Phra Boonlert is expected to face charges in connection with the fatal crash.

 

 

  Adapted by Asean Now from Khaosod 2025-08-12

 

 

 

i thought monks were not permitted to drive? 

1 minute ago, thesetat said:

i thought monks were not permitted to drive? 

 

Just as Catholic priests are forbidden from engaging in sexual acts with minors - the scandals involving priests and choir boys being among the most devastating breaches of trust - so too are Thai Buddhist monks bound by the Vinaya, which strictly forbids any sexual contact.

 

The recent Scandal in Saffron Robes shows how such boundaries can be shattered: multiple senior monks allegedly seduced by Wilawan “Ms Golf” Emsawat, who is accused of blackmailing them for nearly US $12 million. Over 80,000 explicit images and videos seized, some reportedly depicting monks still in their saffron robes, shattering public trust much as the Catholic abuse crisis did in Boston, or as the televangelist sex scandals rocked American evangelicalism in the 1980s.

 

The idea that Thai Buddhist monks are somehow less vulnerable to moral failure than leaders in other religions is fundamentally flawed. People are human, and human nature includes the capacity for weakness, temptation, and corruption. Across all belief systems with strict moral codes - from Christian clergy to Islamic scholars, Hindu gurus to Buddhist abbots - history has shown that some will inevitably break the rules they vow to uphold.

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1367008-thai-monk-scandal-spurs-demand-for-religious-accountability