Man jailed over grisly foetus affair
By Kesinee Taengkhieo
The Nation 2011-01-28
An undertaker's assistant at Wat Phai Ngern in Bangkok was yesterday sentenced to 8,008 months in prison for conspiring to destroy and conceal 2,002 human foetuses.
The Criminal Court then halved the sentence on Suchart Phumee, 39, because of his confession. Suchart will serve no more than 20 years, the maximum jail sentence under Thai law.
The public prosecutor will resubmit the case against a second defendant within seven days. Undertaker Suthep Chabangbon, 47, initially admitted to the crime but later retracted his confession.
The indictment said that between November 1, 2009 and November 13, 2010 the two men accepted the foetuses from former nurse Lanchakorn Janthamanas, who ran an illegal abortion clinic in Bangkok's Nong Khaem district.
The two men confessed to the crime on January 7 but Suthep later retracted it and denied any wrongdoing.
Public prosecutor Reucha Kraireuk said he would resubmit the case against Suthep, while Suchart could now appeal the sentence.
Suthep's elder brother told reporters that Suthep was innocent and was forced to sign the confession, even though he was illiterate.