Thai Supreme Court upholds verdict on trash collector

[webfact]

UPDATE:

Anonymous samaritan pays bt133,400 fine on behalf trash collector

BANGKOK: -- An anonymous Samaritan Friday paid a fine of Bt133,400 on behalf of a municipal garbage collector so that he could walk free from jail, Saphan Sung district director Kanchana Chabsuwan said.

Surat Maneenopratsuda, the garbage collector, was sent to jail Thursday after the Supreme Court upheld the fine against him for selling abandoned movie and music compact discs. Kanchana said the Samaritan requested anonymity.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Anonymous-samaritan-pays-bt133400-fine-on-behalf-t-30247762.html


-- The Nation 2014-11-14

[godden]

Feel for the guy

[JetsetBkk]

UPDATE:

Anonymous samaritan pays bt133,400 fine on behalf trash collector

BANGKOK: -- An anonymous Samaritan Friday paid a fine of Bt133,400 on behalf of a municipal garbage collector so that he could walk free from jail, Saphan Sung district director Kanchana Chabsuwan said.

Surat Maneenopratsuda, the garbage collector, was sent to jail Thursday after the Supreme Court upheld the fine against him for selling abandoned movie and music compact discs. Kanchana said the Samaritan requested anonymity.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Anonymous-samaritan-pays-bt133400-fine-on-behalf-t-30247762.html

-- The Nation 2014-11-14

Very touching.

[doctorproc156]

Shows how much some of the 'elite' really care about the less well off.

There are those that do, an anonymous 'elite' paid the entire fine.

[NongKhaiKid]

It's being reported that an anonymous benefactor has paid the fine !

NICE, VERY NICE !

[JetsetBkk]

<snip>

Living here 5 years has really opened my eyes to how fantastic my home country really is..... and no.... I won't let the door hit me on the way out, before you overly predictable members with nowt better to say chime in. I heard it all before... try being a bit more original.

I've been here more than 10. The only way I've managed to stick it so long is to ignore stories like this. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ebola and ISIS don't worry me half as much as this sh!te.

[Sviss Geez]

"...he had no money to pay the Bt133,400 fine imposed after he was found guilty of selling scrapped compact discs."

Too bad he didn't have enough money to buy a Ferrari. He could have gotten away with murder and not have to pay one baht in fines or spend any time in jail.

Got a crystal ball. have you? The case you refer to is by no means over.

[webfact]

Princess Ubolratana salvages garbage collector from prison term

BANGKOK: -- A Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) garbage collector, who was sentenced to pay 133,400 baht as fine for selling pirated CDs but has to stay behind bars for one year in lieu of the fine, was salvaged from his plight after Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya advised her "To Be Number One" Foundation to pay the fine for him.

Channel 3 reported today that the princess, as chairperson of the foundation, has advised that the foundation pay the fine for Mr Surat Manenoparatsuda, 28, who is serving the one-year imprisonment term at Pathumthani central detention centre when he had no money to pay the fine.

Surat was arrested in 2008 on charge of putting on sales the pirated music CDs and videos he collected from household bins. Reselling of pirated CDs is an offence under the Film and Video Act 2008.

The Criminal Court earlier sentenced him to pay 200,100 baht as fine but reduced the fine by half to 133,400 baht after he confessed to the offence.

He appealed the sentence to the Appeals Court which later upheld the sentence.

He again appealed to the Supreme Court for leniency but the sentence was again upheld.

But as the court was informed by corrections officials that the convicted couldn’t afford the fine due to his poverty, the court then ordered that he be detained instead in lieu of the fine.

However as the law allows maximum one year detention term in lieu of the fine, he then has to serve the prison term of not more than one year.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/princess-ubolratana-salvages-garbage-collector-prison-term/


-- Thai PBS 2014-11-14

[siampolee]

Good to see that someone has a sense of fairness and social responsibility and paid the poor mans fine.

A small glimmer of hope and light from a shining star in galaxy Thailand.

[timmyp]

"...he had no money to pay the Bt133,400 fine imposed after he was found guilty of selling scrapped compact discs."

Too bad he didn't have enough money to buy a Ferrari. He could have gotten away with murder and not have to pay one baht in fines or spend any time in jail.

I'm sure Ferrari boy paid "fines," massive ones. Or the family did. Probably nothing to them, just a mosquito bite of financial discomfort, but for sure some bank accounts have swelled significantly.

[jacky54]

One law for the poor here and none for the rich, this case just shows up Thailand for what it is.

[JOC]

"...he had no money to pay the Bt133,400 fine imposed after he was found guilty of selling scrapped compact discs."

Too bad he didn't have enough money to buy a Ferrari. He could have gotten away with murder and not have to pay one baht in fines or spend any time in jail.

Got a crystal ball. have you? The case you refer to is by no means over.

According to who?? If your ability to predict the future is the same high class as your posts, then.....

[Tatsujin]

Wow, if you ever wanted to clearly see the disparity here between the "haves" and the "havenots", this is it.

I'm not excusing anything here when it comes to breaking various laws, but the balance between the various levels of society here is so screwed up and out of balance it's insane.

If you "have" money, power, status, the right name or connections, it seems you'll get a suspended sentence and a "maximum" 20,000 baht fine for most offences including murder.

If you're a "havenot" or an immigrant/tourist/foreigner, you'll get screwed to the wall to set an example.

What a up <deleted> country this is.

EDIT: slight retraction as the fine has now been paid by the Princess (her foundation at least), so it's a slightly less <deleted> up country than I thought (maybe)

Edited November 14, 2014 by Tatsujin

[Cuchulainn]

Good for her!

[pisico]

The Thai Supreme Court is making it's case for being tough on major criminals as we see the punishment they handed out to this world-class felon. No need focusing on drug kingpins, human traffickers and blatantly corrupt government officials when there are much more crucial cases to deal with such as prosecuting hardened trash collectors!!! I think Thailand has finally got a good handle on serious crime.

Maybe he should have asked for the case to be delayed while he produced another 10,000 witnesses.

Or become a monk... a la Suthep.

Wait... this garbage collector does not have friends in ... you know where.

[siampolee]

JOC post # 43.

You clearly didn't read, where the money came from!!

I did actually, however my personal feelings, emotions do not enter into the matter.

The poor victim is now in the clear and out of debt.

It didn't matter where the funds came from they cleared the mans debt incurred by in my view a gross miscarriage of justice.

[sjjmmi]

Princess Ubolratana salvages garbage collector from prison term

BANGKOK: -- A Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) garbage collector, who was sentenced to pay 133,400 baht as fine for selling pirated CDs but has to stay behind bars for one year in lieu of the fine, was salvaged from his plight after Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya advised her "To Be Number One" Foundation to pay the fine for him.

Channel 3 reported today that the princess, as chairperson of the foundation, has advised that the foundation pay the fine for Mr Surat Manenoparatsuda, 28, who is serving the one-year imprisonment term at Pathumthani central detention centre when he had no money to pay the fine.

Surat was arrested in 2008 on charge of putting on sales the pirated music CDs and videos he collected from household bins. Reselling of pirated CDs is an offence under the Film and Video Act 2008.

The Criminal Court earlier sentenced him to pay 200,100 baht as fine but reduced the fine by half to 133,400 baht after he confessed to the offence.

He appealed the sentence to the Appeals Court which later upheld the sentence.

He again appealed to the Supreme Court for leniency but the sentence was again upheld.

But as the court was informed by corrections officials that the convicted couldn’t afford the fine due to his poverty, the court then ordered that he be detained instead in lieu of the fine.

However as the law allows maximum one year detention term in lieu of the fine, he then has to serve the prison term of not more than one year.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/princess-ubolratana-salvages-garbage-collector-prison-term/

-- Thai PBS 2014-11-14

So selling them is ok

[WhamBam]

Very well done, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya.

My heartiest congratulations to you for showing great heart to this man.May great Karma come your way inn the future.

Edited November 14, 2014 by WhamBam

[Chris Lawrence]

I was bought copies from a group of Burmese boys in Sukumvit a few years ago. The owner of the site was a police sergeant. No ill harm came to those young men?

As a skimmer of no real parentage, no money and no status, a sacrificial lamb to the slaughter.

And from the other side, 'can't you see we are doing something about our problems'.

Is the legal system fair and equitable to all? What happened to the Ferrari kid?

[CharlieH]

1) You will not express disrespect of the King of Thailand or any one member of the Thai royal family, whether living or deceased, nor to criticize the monarchy as an institution.

By law, the Thai Royal Family are above politics. Speculation, comments and discussion of either a political or personal nature are not allowed when discussing HM The King or the Royal family.*
Discussion of the Lese Majeste law or Lese Majeste cases is permitted on the forum, providing no comment or speculation is made referencing the royal family.

To breach these rules may result in immediate ban.

[pisico]

I can only assume that the punishment one is likely to receive for committing a crime, is inversely proportionate to your income.

It is more proportionate to your name!!

Remember the 16 year old girl, who killed 8 minivan-passengers on the tollway?

She was sentenced to boarding-school in Switzerland!! Ofcourse nothing to do with the fact, that her familyname is Na Ayutthaya??

So my dear general, instead of cleaning beaches, moving streetvendors or fixing the taxiranks, what about some real reform?? Like in the same law for rich and poor!! Might not make your sponsors happy, but for sure would "return happiness to the people"!

Careful JOC!

You will draw the ire of those who have the compulsion of saying something (their lives) instead of saying something that matters.

This apropos with you spot on comment:

Can we trust the Generalissimo with small matters? Einstein said it best: "Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters."

The same cast of characters from the 2006 coup are here again. Einstein said it best... again: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

[webfact]

Jailed garbage collector freed



BANGKOK: -- The Criminal Court today ordered the release of a city garbage collector after his fine of 133,400 was paid.

The garbage collector and employee of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) Mr Surat Manenoparatsuda, 28, was ordered released this morning after a lawyer Woranai Bamnetphand paid the fine for him at the court.

The lawyer then proceeded to the Thanyaburi detention centre in Pathumthani with the release order of the court to show to the centre warden.

The garbage collector was later freed.

Meanwhile BMA governor M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra also designated Saphan Soong district chief officer Mrs Kanchana Chabsuwan to the Criminal Court to pay fine for Mr Surat.
However she was informed by court officials that the fine has already been paid and release order has been issued.

Officials explained that they treated the case as first come first served or who paid the money first would be granted the right.

Surat was arrested in 2008 on charge of putting on sales the pirated music CDs and videos he collected from household bins. Reselling of pirated CDs is an offence under the Film and Video Act 2008.

The Criminal Court earlier sentenced him to pay 200,100 baht as fine but reduced the fine by half to 133,400 baht after he confessed to the offence.

He appealed the sentence to the Appeals Court which later upheld the sentence.

He again appealed to the Supreme Court for leniency but the fine was upheld.

But the court ordered that he be detained in lieu of the fine when he could not afford the payment.

To Be Number One Foundation chaired by Princess Ubolratana later offered the payment of the fine.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/jailed-garbage-collector-freed/


-- Thai PBS 2014-11-14

[Strangebrew]

So this mans crime worst than Red Bulls heir's Killing of police officer?

[jcisco]

For the love of god, if I ran a lobby group or legal team on behalf of media rights holders upon this guy had infringed, I would pay his fine. This is just inhumane to send this man to jail in this situation there is no justice to be had just cruelty in punishment. I honestly sad to read this.

[jcisco]

Oh now I see he is free, sense prevails. There are some good people willing to not let this stand.

[alantheembalmer]

"The Criminal Court earlier sentenced him to pay 200,100 baht as fine but reduced the fine by half to 133,400 baht after he confessed to the offence."
Some commentators have said that justice is poor at times; so, it seems, is mathematics.

[recycled]

The only message it sends out to the low-so is take what you can from who you can when you can, as those above them are screwing them and the country into the ground. So much for your bringing happiness back to the people General you and your like are all the same, nothing but pathetic frauds. You reap what you sow Mr. PM; hate to be in your shoes Sir, when the proverbial hits the fan.

[SOTIRIOS]

...meanwhile....the loss of revenue due to the rice scam totals over 600 billion baht....

...is this how they plan to recoup those losses....???

[thequietman]

Update : coming from wifey

The guy is out of jail. Princess Obonlat (check spelling) called them on this stupid decision and he is free. Good news.

[thequietman]

Update : coming from wifey

The guy is out of jail. Princess Obonlat (check spelling) called them on this stupid decision and he is free. Good news.

Further update, someone paid his fine but anonymously. He is indeed out.