Truck driver who killed Chilean cyclist in Korat fined THB7,500

[harrycallahan]

It's common for long distance cyclists to end up this way. I cycle at home and choose my roads carefully. Riding these ultra long distances, lots of time on any old road, often not where a bike should be.

Australian in US

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2724500/Canberra-high-school-teacher-Joanna-Abernethy-completing-7-200km-cycling-trip-America-dead-highway.html

British couple both killed in Thailand

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/feb/18/british-cyclists-killed-thailand

[ezzra]

Just a minus, was he juvenile as well like when the judges said that putting young road killers in jail

is wrong?

The wrong message is continue to come out of the judiciary halls, it ok to kill people on the roads,

will fine you a small fee and few years suspensions.....

And that Thailand is wondering why so many people get killed on Thailand's roads? and with deterrent

like the above, I'm surprise more people are not killed....

[selftaopath]

Light sentence made lighter because "he confessed"????????

GEEZEUS.

What a joke Lack of Sanctions (LOS) is.

[JOC]

Very obviously most people here do not understand the difference between a death by negligent behavior and a premeditated murder.

Instead of starting a witch hunt if the parents are rich and a Thailand bashing when the guy is poor, spend some time getting information and facts about criminal law. Honestly these discussions are getting more and more embarrassing

The only thing embarrassing here is your post!!

Read and think:

>>The Criminal Code of Canada does not have a specific statute for vehicular homicide, but has a series of provisions covering driving offences causing death, among them:

• dangerous driving causing death
• criminal negligence causing death
• failure to stop for police causing death
• street racing causing death
• impaired driving causing death
• hit and run driving causing death

The maximum penalty for dangerous driving causing death, absent any of the remaining 5 elements mentioned above, is 14 years' imprisonment. The maximum penalty is otherwise life imprisonment. Anyone sentenced to life imprisonment for a Criminal Code driving offence is eligible to apply for parole after serving 7 years, but there is no guarantee of parole.<<

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_homicide

So the posters here claiming, that the cost of taking a human life here is extremely low, are absolutely spot on!!

[zydeco]

Kill somebody and get a $200 fine.

You're leaving out the 1 year jail term because that suits you better.

Try reading the first paragraph of the OP link, genius.

The truck driver who killed a round-the-world Chilean cyclist on a Korat highway has been sentenced to prison but won’t have to actually go to jail as the sentence was suspended.

Edited May 13, 2015 by zydeco

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

How do they figure out how much the fine will be for killing a man here? Is it calculated by body weight or how white the victims skin colour is?

[2alex4alex]

So it looks like Farangs are worth 7500 THB, I thought it would have been less,

RIP Chilean guy,travel the world and get mowed down in Thailand.

regards Worgeordie

He was not farang( white, caucasian).

[SOTIRIOS]

...that'll teach him......NOT.......

[TheFishman1]

So This is Thailand was the 7500 halved or did he have to pay 7500

[X pat]

If this had happened in my (U.S) country he would have gotten a looooooooooong prison sentence,not a slap on the wrist. Thank God I am a Christian,and life means something to me.

[Divemaster65]

Unbelievable... Had it been a foreigner and they hit and killed a Thai the cost would have been over 20K in fines and millions in compensation... Shocking really... No jail time...

. Had this been a western country UK, Europe, U.S.) jail time as well has huge fines and additional court case for civil and criminal lieablities....

Edited May 13, 2015 by Divemaster65

[Fiddlesticks]

Just another good reason to make Thailand your retirement paradise! ! ! ! ! !

[mr_lob]

This is just VILE. How can the judge walk from the court thinking he has done a good job and served justice?

[IamNoone88]

Lost for words. I pity the family.

[jacksam]

Instead of throwing people in jail for years in case something bad happens, there should be a serious enforcement of revoking driving licenses in case of endangering other road users. If people then keep on driving without license, then its time to throw them in jail.

Are you serious......where you from?? In western country this guy would have gone to jail. Glad the victim was not your son or brother. <Inflammatory comment removed>

Edited May 13, 2015 by metisdead

[kinmaew]

Only one evil law is upheld in Thailand, that is the whole problem with their society.

[fareastguy]

Thailand is well on the way to achieving it's own "Guinness World Record" of killing cyclists & letting the perpetrators go free with minimal penalties..

[bitterbatter]

Sure if you compare the penalties with other countries under similar circumstances, this penalty seems to be light.

But, if you consider the actual affects of how this will keep the driver from doing it again. I don't know if many people commenting have read more than the title of the article, but he received a 1 year sentence in prison plus the fine. Surely one year in a Thai prison will be apt punishment for a 64 year old and give him much time to regret his poor driving. But they didn't require anything to make him a better driver, such as a special driving school. And lets not forget that another party is probably just as much at fault as the driver, and that it the truck. So many of these trucks are ill-maintained and probably challenging for even the world's best drivers to drive safely.

[Baerboxer]

Very obviously most people here do not understand the difference between a death by negligent behavior and a premeditated murder.

Instead of starting a witch hunt if the parents are rich and a Thailand bashing when the guy is poor, spend some time getting information and facts about criminal law. Honestly these discussions are getting more and more embarrassing

So stop reading them then. No one is forcing you.

Perhaps you care to share your opinion then, based on your extensive knowledge and understanding of criminal law, on what a just punishment would be?

Or just carry on criticizing everyone else - that's easier after all.

No one is accusing the truck driver or the brat of murder. Perhaps you'd like to explain how different legal systems treat manslaughter, causing death through dangerous driving, negligence, etc., and their scales of punishment and how this relates to the Thai code and its implementation as part of your argument that these two punishments were fair and standard.

[Fiddlesticks]

Sure if you compare the penalties with other countries under similar circumstances, this penalty seems to be light.

But, if you consider the actual affects of how this will keep the driver from doing it again. I don't know if many people commenting have read more than the title of the article, but he received a 1 year sentence in prison plus the fine. Surely one year in a Thai prison will be apt punishment for a 64 year old and give him much time to regret his poor driving. But they didn't require anything to make him a better driver, such as a special driving school. And lets not forget that another party is probably just as much at fault as the driver, and that it the truck. So many of these trucks are ill-maintained and probably challenging for even the world's best drivers to drive safely.

Not sure you UNDERSTAND when you read something but what I read says the sentence was suspended.

has been sentenced to prison but wont have to actually go to jail as the sentence was suspended.

[Lupatria]

The headline should read:

Drastic inflation in Thailand! Price of human life dropped to 7.500 Baht.

[2alex4alex]

3-rd times reread this article... thinking... I hate my neighbour. And I want to get rid of him. If I invite him to my place, knock him out and cross him by my car...After that call to police and confess.Will it cost me just 7.500baht? Or I have to hire a Thai to do this? Because I'm afraid for farang it will be a little bit more expensive.Anyway it's not bad idea at all. Thanks for a tip! I really love Thailand. But this awful story...O.k., mai pen rai

[Sooo Upto Me]

Kill somebody and get a $200 fine.

No, this is Thailand not USA. Its 7,500 Baht fine.

[Guest]

This accident is pure tragedy and heart breaking.

However .. it was an ACCIDENT.

A horrible horrible regrettable ACCIDENT.

This is not a lotto. This is not a numerical evaluation of the "Value of the Life of a Foreigner."

This is not a game.

Grow up people.....

Please !!

[Godders]

By any standards, a 7,500 baht fine seems remarkably lenient. In the UK, the equivalent offence of causing death by dangerous driving can result in a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

[oneday]

Do you laugh or do you cry??

Mr P "We are going to get serious about the road killings"

First the spoiled brat Na Ayudhya and now this...........Third world country!! ( being polite)

Does look like there is no class justice then.. both get off free.. though I find the Na Ayudhya case worse as there were more deaths.

Don't forget the two 68 year old, innocent, male tourists walking along a Phuket sidewalk that were killed. That criminal driver got away with a 2-year suspended sentence. Then there was the underage girl who killed 9 people when she knocked a van off an elevated highway and because she WAS underage (now she is 21) she has gotten off lightly. This happens time and time again. Murders get out on bail all the time. I remember one story where a CONVICTED murderer got out on bail and killed again.

The only people that seem to go to jail are drug dealers and users and innocent people who happen to be sharing or living in the same room with the drug criminal or somehow associated with them when these dealer/users are arrested even though there is no direct evidence these people are using or dealing. Then there are poor people who are found picking mushrooms in a national park getting 10+ years in jail.

Upside down justice is all you can find in Thailand.

[brling]

Very obviously most people here do not understand the difference between a death by negligent behavior and a premeditated murder.

Instead of starting a witch hunt if the parents are rich and a Thailand bashing when the guy is poor, spend some time getting information and facts about criminal law. Honestly these discussions are getting more and more embarrassing

What's embarrassing is your defence.

Indeed, embarrassing, and if you reply to this thread you are Thai bashing. Thai apologists are pathetic.

[Guest]

3-rd times reread this article... thinking... I hate my neighbour. And I want to get rid of him. If I invite him to my place, knock him out and cross him by my car...After that call to police and confess.Will it cost me just 7.500baht? Or I have to hire a Thai to do this? Because I'm afraid for farang it will be a little bit more expensive.Anyway it's not bad idea at all. Thanks for a tip! I really love Thailand. But this awful story...O.k., mai pen rai

Alex,

The rules of this forum forbid me for expressing what many of us are thinking about your posting.

Let's just say we are convinced your IQ is the product of the equation

(x) x 0 = IQ

[tomyumchai]

i see the apologists arrived at post #12 again......seems to be the norm now .....

[Sooo Upto Me]

Very obviously most people here do not understand the difference between a death by negligent behavior and a premeditated murder.

Instead of starting a witch hunt if the parents are rich and a Thailand bashing when the guy is poor, spend some time getting information and facts about criminal law. Honestly these discussions are getting more and more embarrassing

The only thing embarrassing here is your post!!

Read and think:

>>The Criminal Code of Canada does not have a specific statute for vehicular homicide, but has a series of provisions covering driving offences causing death, among them:

• dangerous driving causing death
• criminal negligence causing death
• failure to stop for police causing death
• street racing causing death
• impaired driving causing death
• hit and run driving causing death

The maximum penalty for dangerous driving causing death, absent any of the remaining 5 elements mentioned above, is 14 years' imprisonment. The maximum penalty is otherwise life imprisonment. Anyone sentenced to life imprisonment for a Criminal Code driving offence is eligible to apply for parole after serving 7 years, but there is no guarantee of parole.<<

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_homicide

So the posters here claiming, that the cost of taking a human life here is extremely low, are absolutely spot on!!

Totally agree with u Joc, almost same in England.