Kidnapper returns baby due to remorse, guilt

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Kidnapper returns baby due to remorse, guilt
By Jessada Chuntraruk
The Nation 2011-06-01

The woman, who stole a three-month-old baby from his 17-year-old mother at Bangkok's Rajavithi Hospital on Monday, delivered the child at the FM91 (Sor Wor Por 91) radio station yesterday morning. The suspect said that though she wanted to raise the baby as her own, she felt guilty and had decided to return him to the biological mother.

Sureeporn Ratchawong, 33, along with her older sister Sommai Petchploy, was originally going to deposit the baby at Phya Thai police station, but cabbie Somkiat Parakit suggested that they take the child to the radio station instead.

Pol Maj-General Wichai Sangprapai, commander of the Metropolian Police Division 1, interviewed Sureeporn on-air for 20 minutes before the mother arrived for a tearful reunion with her baby. She was accompanied by 10 of her family members.

The teenage mother said she wasn't angry with Sureeporn, but felt sorry for her and forgave her. Other than warning Sureeporn to never do this again, she decided not to press charges. Sureeporn then burst into tears and prostrated at the feet of the young mother and her relatives for forgiveness.

Initial physical examination of the baby at Rajavithi Hospital showed that he was healthy. Sureeporn, meanwhile, was taken to Phya Thai police station, where she confessed that she worked as an illustrator and though she had been married for three years, she had still not conceived. Four months ago, the Ban Latvithi Orphanage turned down her request for adoption on grounds that her financial status wasn't stable, she said.

On Monday, while she was interviewing new mothers about the benefits of breastfeeding, she met the teenage mother and her baby. She said she had taken the child because she felt close to him, but decided to return him to his mother after Sureeporn saw her tearfully begging for his return on television.

Wichai said Sureeporn faced the charge of taking a minor from his parents, an offence that is punishable by three to 15 years in prison and/or a Bt6,000-Bt30,000 fine. Police investigation showed that she had taken the baby out of compulsion but had returned due to remorse, which might be viewed kindly in court.

This case has also promoted the Public Health Ministry to order hospitals to beef up security and require that relatives with children carry their identification cards at all times.