Surin: Young lovers found dead after being told to end relationship

[webfact]

Young lovers found dead after being told to end relationship
By Coconuts Bangkok

SURIN: -- A young couple were found hanging from a tree close to the boyfriend’s home in Surin Province on Wednesday.

The pair appeared to be embracing and kissing when they were discovered in two nooses made from the same rope.

The night before they were discovered, the boyfriend’s father told his 21-year-old son they had to end their relationship after the 15-year-old girl’s family asked for THB300,000 to settle a statutory rape charge filed against the boyfriend.

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2015/08/06/young-lovers-found-dead-after-being-told-end-relationship


-- Coconuts Bangkok 2015-08-06

[Pattaya28]

300,000 hush money. That's cool. Are the parents happy now ? Thainess.

[JoePai]

Sad RIP

[magnacarta]

300,000 hush money. That's cool. Are the parents happy now ? Thainess.

Expect an enslaught from the posters who have gone native.

[Brit_Doggie]

No money no honey the old thai adage rears it's ugly head again.

[Just1Voice]

Blame this on on the parents.

[zaphod reborn]

Blame this on on the parents.

No, blame it on a justice system and police force that accept monetary payments to victims and the police in lieu of criminal prosecutions.

[magnacarta]

Blame this on on the parents.

Ever heard of Romeo and Juliet ?

[hgma]

Free speech and scoops ....i am all for it...be it with some personal limitations.

Like picturing the couple all over the world while hanging side by side.

It's like a corps without a sheet, and must be horrific for the families involved.

No matter what had happened.

Trouble is, it seems that i become an einzelganger in that sort of comments!

[jrmaanda]

Blame this on on the parents.

No, blame it on a justice system and police force that accept monetary payments to victims and the police in lieu of criminal prosecutions.

No, blame it on an injustice system that persecutes young lovers. An injustice system that is incidentally a foreign import, nothing to with Thainess.

[soalbundy]

Mum and dad know best

[DLang]

Money Money Money. Give us Money!

[SOTIRIOS]

.....culture.....???

[shaurene]

This is so sad, why did they not make plans to save a little money and run away, she could have dyed her hair worn clear glasses, they could have gotten a job away somewhere. They could have hidden in an out of the way place or BKK, Pattaya etc.

Just brought tears to my eyes. Hope the father suffers for the loss in causing his son to take his life and the girls parents rubbing their hands for money.

[ToddinChonburi]

A very sad story.

[Alwyn]

The girl's money-grabbing parents should be hanging their heads in shame. RIP to the young lovers. As somebody pointed out already, one has to wonder why they didn't just elope?

[Tonawatchee]

Wonder what the girl's parents miss the most.

[BuaBS]

Blackmail money because of some stupid law about underaged sex.

[soalbundy]

Actually that is quite a bit of money especially for Isaan, the local gold dealer here only had to pay 100,000 for his son in a similar situation, luckily they didn't kill themselves and got married later, when the question of sinsod came up the boy's father said,''You've had it already''.

[Just1Voice]

Blame this on on the parents.

Ever heard of Romeo and Juliet ?

Yeah, and I blame THEIR parents as well.

[Bangkok Barry]

In Thailand it is ALWAYS about the money. Justice has no part to play, otherwise they would have gone to the police to file charges. A kid in my wife's village was riding a motorcycle - underage, no insurance, no license, no helmet - and killed another kid. Were the police ever involved or the parents of the killer arrested for allowing their kid to ride the bike? Of course not. A little trip to the ATM produced compensation for a young life lost. That's the way it works in Thailand, and the police don't care. Cuts down on the paperwork.

[zaphod reborn]

Blame this on on the parents.

No, blame it on a justice system and police force that accept monetary payments to victims and the police in lieu of criminal prosecutions.

No, blame it on an injustice system that persecutes young lovers. An injustice system that is incidentally a foreign import, nothing to with Thainess.

All countries have some age of consent. Thailand's age of consent is 15 (see below). The problem is that Thailand's courts and the parliament have created all kinds of uncertainties by allowing prosecutions involving older victims, where the sex is "obscene" or results in a pregnancy. This allows the parents of the girl to demand payment from the adult male, even though she technically could consent to their sexual relations. No one can be sure if there really would be a prosecution, but it's easier with the Thai style of justice, to forgive everything if there is payment of compensation. Note that Sect. 279 doesn't apply to prostitution where the age of consent is 18.

Penal Code Section 279 Whoever, commits an indecent act on a child not yet over fifteen years of age, whether such child shall consent or not, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding ten years or fined not exceeding twenty thousand Baht, or both.

If the commission of the offence according to the first paragraph, the offender commits it by threatening by any means whatever, by doing any act of violence, by taking advantage of such child being in the condition of inability to resist, or by causing such child to mistake him for another person, the offender shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding fifteen years or fined not exceeding thirty thousand Baht, or both.

[onni4me]

300,000 hush money. That's cool. Are the parents happy now ? Thainess.

Expect an enslaught from the posters who have gone native.

Did you mean onslaught?

I don't have a clue what us gone 'native' would normally say but the truth is that since the girl was underage the parents had a say on what was going on. A year more and it would have been a different matter. It seems clear that they had been in sexual intercourse and that is defined as 'abuse of a minor' or even a 'rape' not depending mutual consent. A Thai guy that age should've known better IMHO.

Unfortunately, this is quite regular pattern here in the sticks and I've witnessed myself a 16 yo. having a boyfriend making all kinds of promises and she got pregnant and when he got tired of her they actually appeared on our doorstep the guy saying that we (<deleted>!?) should take the girl back since he was the daughter of my partners brother. I refused. The girl was bad news anyway, She used to steal my mobile phone and only got it back after demanding it back from the parents.

My personal approach to Thai problems is to turn a blind eye if it doesn't concern me or my family directly. Som Nam Nah.

I am sorry for the couple but instead of killing myself I would have looked the cards before. No forward planning, responsibility or patience causes this kind of results.

So, did you enjoy an onslaught from a person gone 'native'?

[atyclb]

Perhaps the girls parents and the boys parents might come to realize one another's greed is not as valuable as their childrens lives.

One wonders if the girls parents will persist in pressing for money? perhaps the boys parents will press charges of blackmail/extortion?

also a sad reflection of emotional maturity

[soalbundy]

Perhaps the girls parents and the boys parents might come to realize one another's greed is not as valuable as their childrens lives.

One wonders if the girls parents will persist in pressing for money? perhaps the boys parents will press charges of blackmail/extortion?

also a sad reflection of emotional maturity

I doubt the extortion bit, usually the police are involved in the consultation, both parties sit together in the police station and a report is written out and the sum of money to be paid is written down with a proviso that the man shall not attempt to see the girl again. How do i know this? my 15 year old step daughter was seeing a 20 year old and the mother and i went to the police with the man and his father, since they were poor the officer making out the report suggested that 10,000 Baht was sufficient and that was the way it was done, after which the mother gave her daughter a good beating around the house for bringing shame on the family.

[toenail]

(a farang perspective)
Thais get into drama more than Westerners... I imagine this young couple could only relate to the local TV dramas or Thai movies that resort to a tragedy ending with suicide. Thinking of running away from both parents and working together in Bangkok was not in their thinking pattern-only what they had seen in movies. Sad.

[timendres]

Blame this on on the parents.

No, blame it on a justice system and police force that accept monetary payments to victims and the police in lieu of criminal prosecutions.

No, blame it on an injustice system that persecutes young lovers. An injustice system that is incidentally a foreign import, nothing to with Thainess.

All countries have some age of consent. Thailand's age of consent is 15 (see below). The problem is that Thailand's courts and the parliament have created all kinds of uncertainties by allowing prosecutions involving older victims, where the sex is "obscene" or results in a pregnancy. This allows the parents of the girl to demand payment from the adult male, even though she technically could consent to their sexual relations. No one can be sure if there really would be a prosecution, but it's easier with the Thai style of justice, to forgive everything if there is payment of compensation. Note that Sect. 279 doesn't apply to prostitution where the age of consent is 18.

Penal Code Section 279 Whoever, commits an indecent act on a child not yet over fifteen years of age, whether such child shall consent or not, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding ten years or fined not exceeding twenty thousand Baht, or both.

If the commission of the offence according to the first paragraph, the offender commits it by threatening by any means whatever, by doing any act of violence, by taking advantage of such child being in the condition of inability to resist, or by causing such child to mistake him for another person, the offender shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding fifteen years or fined not exceeding thirty thousand Baht, or both.

I believe the previous poster's point being that there is a big difference between a 28 year old seducing a 16 year, and two kids three years apart who may have known each other all their lives and are truly in love. Setting some exact age for these cases is arbitrary at best, and is handled to the extreme in the west. The idea that the boy in this case, had he been in the US, may have been prosecuted and placed on the sex offenders list alongside some 35 year old that raped an 8 year old girl, is criminal in and of itself.

There is no universal answer to the problem, but what might be more appropriate would be a relative test - say when they ages are more than 4 years apart. That way, the 18 and 15 year old would be treated in a more logical fashion - say a brief social worker visit explaining that they need to delay sexual activity for a couple of years and why - while a 26 year old having sex with a 15 year old would be treated more harshly. But in any case, some consideration of the participants true feelings and intentions should be taken into account. The problem being that that is a very difficult thing to implement in reality. And certainly almost impossible to define in law.

In the end, it is quite sad that these two kids were pushed into this corner.

[DLang]

The girl's money-grabbing parents should be hanging their heads in shame. RIP to the young lovers. As somebody pointed out already, one has to wonder why they didn't just elope?

They'll be devastated.

Their retirement pension and plan is now gone.

Disgusting culture.

[johninbkk71]

Blackmail money because of some stupid law about underaged sex.

A stupid law that does not permit an adult to have sex with a CHILD!

Are Gary and Jimmy your role models?

[Typingdog]

How much did your guys pay for your wife ?