Late last month, on a quiet Monday afternoon,warders locked down Bang Khwang prison and prepared for two executions. A pair of convicted drug dealers, Bundit Charoenwanich,45, and Jirawat Phumpruek,52, were given one hour to contact their families, eat a last meal and make their peace in this world. Then they were taken to the execution room and injected with a series of drugs, the last of which ended their lives.
It was the first time in six years that authorities had ordered an actual execution. They should be the last such prisoners to die by execution. It is time that Parliament and the government end all use of the death penalty.
There are several problems with judicial executions,and no acceptable advantage. Carrying out a death sentence always risks the chance of killing the wrong person. Police, prosecutors and courts are dedicated and efficient, but not infallible. There have been plenty of wrongful convictions over the decades of Thai justice.If even one death sentence is wrongfully carried out,the death would be on the conscience of the nation. A wrongful conviction already takes months or years from an innocent person's life. Nothing could be worse than taking his or her life.
The main reason to abolish the death penalty for terrible crimes is that it brings no true result. Justice and punishment, in the form of imprisonment, parole or work programmes, are meant to prevent further crime. To an extent, they work. While many criminals continue their ways after release, others "go straight"so that they can live freely, without worry about being imprisoned. Crimes are prevented daily by the presence of police and the courts, as would-be robbers, speeders,thieves and others stick to the law in order to avoid punishment.
Study after study over the past 50 years has proved that the death sentence is no deterrent to the terrible crimes it punishes, such as drug trafficking, premeditated murder, violent and sexual abuse of children. While proponents of the death penalty argue facetiously that execution will assure that such criminals do not carry out their acts again, there are many ways to assure that.Indeed, no rational person would accept the end of the death penalty without parallel assurances that such violent acts against society can be punished by true life imprisonment, without early release.
Abolishing the death penalty in Thailand will be an unpopular act by the government, without doubt. Even in advanced Western countries, the majority of citizens always have opposed the abolition of the ultimate penalty. Yet such abolition around the world, from Canada to Cambodia, and from Austria to Australia,has never caused an upsurge of any kind in capital crimes. If anything, the threat of lengthy, even lifetime incarceration seems to be a greater deterrent than the former death penalty. Indeed, in recent cases in the United States, federal prisoners in so-called Supermax prisons have sued the government against their lifetime sentences under harsh, maximum security rules.
The only remaining argument in favour - that it provides an emotional release of sorts for victims and a horrified public - is unacceptable. Justice is not a form of vengeance, like some feel-good ending to a movie. Law and punishment are serious matters.
Last year, a majority of the United Nations General Assembly voted for the first time to oppose the death penalty. For now, the government should order a true moratorium banning more executions, pending a rewrite of the criminal code to ban the death penalty altogether.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Teacher-pupil lesbian affair ends with jail
A teacher at a private school who said she was "pressured" into a lesbian affair by a 15-year-old pupil,was jailed for 15 months yesterday.
Music teacher Helen Goddard,26, of Greenwich, southeast London, pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual activity with the girl between February and July,earlier this year.
Southwark Crown Court heard how Goddard, who was nicknamed "the Jazz Lady", befriended the youngster as they met for coffee after lessons.
Their relationship eventually became sexual, a development the youngster's parents condemned as a "complete betrayal" of trust.
The five-month affair included an overnight stay at her home and a romantic weekend in Paris, the court heard. Their forbidden trysts remained a secret until someone sent the school an anonymous tip-off about their relationship.
Music teacher Helen Goddard,26, of Greenwich, southeast London, pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual activity with the girl between February and July,earlier this year.
Southwark Crown Court heard how Goddard, who was nicknamed "the Jazz Lady", befriended the youngster as they met for coffee after lessons.
Their relationship eventually became sexual, a development the youngster's parents condemned as a "complete betrayal" of trust.
The five-month affair included an overnight stay at her home and a romantic weekend in Paris, the court heard. Their forbidden trysts remained a secret until someone sent the school an anonymous tip-off about their relationship.
Man grows ganja on middle of highway
A man has been arrested for allegedly growing marijuana on the dividing strip of a major highway in Greece.
The 35-year-old was apprehended when he arrived by car to tend his "farm"in the middle of the six-lane highway connecting Athens to the northern port city of Thessaloniki.
Police said he had been harvesting 42 marijuana plants, some of which had reached a height of 1.8m, around 70km south of Thessaloniki.
Officials also discovered a small quantity of marijuana in his home.
The plants were uprooted and confiscated by police.
The man is due to face charges before a public prosecutor.
The 35-year-old was apprehended when he arrived by car to tend his "farm"in the middle of the six-lane highway connecting Athens to the northern port city of Thessaloniki.
Police said he had been harvesting 42 marijuana plants, some of which had reached a height of 1.8m, around 70km south of Thessaloniki.
Officials also discovered a small quantity of marijuana in his home.
The plants were uprooted and confiscated by police.
The man is due to face charges before a public prosecutor.
Carer jailed for sex attack
A carer at a former children's home was jailed for two years yesterday for sexually attacking teenage girls, the Press Association reported.
Gordon Wateridge, nicknamed "the Perv" by his victims, carried out the attacks in the 1970s at the Haut de la Garenne children's home in Jersey.
The 78-year-old, described as a "persistent sexual bully" during his trial last month, was found guilty of eight charges of indecent assault and one charge of assault at Jersey's Royal Court.
Youngsters sent to the home were vulnerable and suffered from a variety of problems. But Wateridge, then in his 40s, failed in his obligation to look after them, the court heard.
He would grope girls' breasts, kiss them on the neck and, in one instance,forced his hand inside a victim's underwear.
Wateridge, who was born in Croydon,south London, was the first person to be charged in connection with a historic child abuse investigation on the island.
One victim repeatedly broke down in tears in court as she recalled how Wateridge would regularly lean out and grab her and other girls as they walked past the home's snooker table.
The woman, who was taken into the home after her father unexpectedly died,said Wateridge would push her on to the snooker table and grope her breasts and inner thighs.
"It wasn't right ... I was a girl of 13 or 14, he was a big man, I would be shouting at him to stop," she said.
Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Christopher Pitchers said:"What he did was rightly described in the trial as sexual bullying." It was true, he added, that the acts carried out by Wateridge were at the "lower end" of the sentencing guidelines.
He said:"They were vulnerable because they were children and because they were placed in the home without the support of a loving family. They were entitled to expect care, love and kindness but in fact they received sexual bullying and unkindness."
Gordon Wateridge, nicknamed "the Perv" by his victims, carried out the attacks in the 1970s at the Haut de la Garenne children's home in Jersey.
The 78-year-old, described as a "persistent sexual bully" during his trial last month, was found guilty of eight charges of indecent assault and one charge of assault at Jersey's Royal Court.
Youngsters sent to the home were vulnerable and suffered from a variety of problems. But Wateridge, then in his 40s, failed in his obligation to look after them, the court heard.
He would grope girls' breasts, kiss them on the neck and, in one instance,forced his hand inside a victim's underwear.
Wateridge, who was born in Croydon,south London, was the first person to be charged in connection with a historic child abuse investigation on the island.
One victim repeatedly broke down in tears in court as she recalled how Wateridge would regularly lean out and grab her and other girls as they walked past the home's snooker table.
The woman, who was taken into the home after her father unexpectedly died,said Wateridge would push her on to the snooker table and grope her breasts and inner thighs.
"It wasn't right ... I was a girl of 13 or 14, he was a big man, I would be shouting at him to stop," she said.
Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Christopher Pitchers said:"What he did was rightly described in the trial as sexual bullying." It was true, he added, that the acts carried out by Wateridge were at the "lower end" of the sentencing guidelines.
He said:"They were vulnerable because they were children and because they were placed in the home without the support of a loving family. They were entitled to expect care, love and kindness but in fact they received sexual bullying and unkindness."
Illegal stimulant upgraded to type-1 drug
The Food and Drug Administration has reclassified the illicit stimulant dimethylamphetamine a type-1 drug in an effort to arrest its growing popularity.
The stimulant is related to methamphetamine but has a reduced effect.
The addictive drug was previously classified a type-2 drug, which carried a jail sentence of up to 20 years under the Narcotics Act for anyone caught smuggling it. The smuggling of type-1 drugs carries the death penalty.
The FDA has upgraded the classification of dimethylamphetamine to match methamphetamine, mainly due to the increase in smuggling of the drug.
The suggestion to elevate its classification to type-1 was made by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, FDA secretary-general Pipat Yingseree said.
"We have to keep seeking ways to stamp out new trends in the smuggling of drugs," he said.
"Drug dealers were switching from trading in methamphetamine to dimethylamphetamine mainly because of the lenient penalties."
Mr Pipat said the drug's mild effect,compared with methamphetamine, also enabled dealers to sell more.
Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai has approved a ministerial regulation classifying dimethylamphetamine as a type-1 drug.
Its enforcement is expected to take effect within 180 days after its publication in the Royal Gazette, he said.
Kobkul Chantavaro, an adviser to the ONCB, said traces of dimethylamphetamine have occasionally been found in ice, or crystal methamphetamine.
The stimulant is related to methamphetamine but has a reduced effect.
The addictive drug was previously classified a type-2 drug, which carried a jail sentence of up to 20 years under the Narcotics Act for anyone caught smuggling it. The smuggling of type-1 drugs carries the death penalty.
The FDA has upgraded the classification of dimethylamphetamine to match methamphetamine, mainly due to the increase in smuggling of the drug.
The suggestion to elevate its classification to type-1 was made by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, FDA secretary-general Pipat Yingseree said.
"We have to keep seeking ways to stamp out new trends in the smuggling of drugs," he said.
"Drug dealers were switching from trading in methamphetamine to dimethylamphetamine mainly because of the lenient penalties."
Mr Pipat said the drug's mild effect,compared with methamphetamine, also enabled dealers to sell more.
Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai has approved a ministerial regulation classifying dimethylamphetamine as a type-1 drug.
Its enforcement is expected to take effect within 180 days after its publication in the Royal Gazette, he said.
Kobkul Chantavaro, an adviser to the ONCB, said traces of dimethylamphetamine have occasionally been found in ice, or crystal methamphetamine.
Foreigners accused of B50m jewellery theft
Three foreigners have been arrested and accused of stealing diamond jewellery worth 50 million baht from an exhibition in Bangkok at the weekend.
The three suspects allegedly stole the jewellery from a booth at the 44th Bangkok Gem and Jewelry Fair held at the Muang Thong Thani convention and exhibition centre on Saturday.
They are Daransa Waren Singh Ca-manro,22, of Peru, and Matinev Alexis,29, and Borotiros Casanida Jinee, 54,both of Mexico.
Officers from Provincial Police Region 1 took the three into custody in Pattaya yesterday as they were about to return a car to a rental firm.
A police source said the three colluded with two others to carry out the theft from Aphiwat Tiyasuksawat,25.
The theft allegedly took place as Mr Aphiwat was away and only his mother,Sopha, was staffing the booth.
The stolen items included 60 diamond rings,10 pairs of diamond earrings, eight bracelets and five diamond pendants.
The suspects, who were found carrying fake passports, entered Thailand from Malaysia through Sadao district in Songkhla province.
The other two suspects were seen boarding a bus for Sadao in a bid to flee into Malaysia with the jewellery, police said.
The three suspects allegedly stole the jewellery from a booth at the 44th Bangkok Gem and Jewelry Fair held at the Muang Thong Thani convention and exhibition centre on Saturday.
They are Daransa Waren Singh Ca-manro,22, of Peru, and Matinev Alexis,29, and Borotiros Casanida Jinee, 54,both of Mexico.
Officers from Provincial Police Region 1 took the three into custody in Pattaya yesterday as they were about to return a car to a rental firm.
A police source said the three colluded with two others to carry out the theft from Aphiwat Tiyasuksawat,25.
The theft allegedly took place as Mr Aphiwat was away and only his mother,Sopha, was staffing the booth.
The stolen items included 60 diamond rings,10 pairs of diamond earrings, eight bracelets and five diamond pendants.
The suspects, who were found carrying fake passports, entered Thailand from Malaysia through Sadao district in Songkhla province.
The other two suspects were seen boarding a bus for Sadao in a bid to flee into Malaysia with the jewellery, police said.
CSD opens inquiry into missing pair
Relatives of a businessman and a newspaper reporter in Nakhon Ratchasima have asked the Crime Suppression Division to investigate their suspected abduction.
The disappearance of the pair is believed to be linked to a senior police officer.
Ananwat Atthanapol,45, who is involved in a direct sales business, and reporter Naret Yuwarat are believed to have been abducted by their rivals in a court case.
Mr Ananwat's nephew, Pasakorn Punnampet, said the people he suspected of abducting the pair might be connected with a senior police officer in the province who is involved in the case.
The pair have been missing since Sept 9 after appearing at Nakhon Ratchasima Municipal Court where Mr Ananwat was facing an embezzlement charge,Mr Pasakorn said.
Mr Pasakorn said he lodged a complaint with the CSD because he was unhappy with the progress of a previous complaint filed with police in the province. He said he suspected there might be irregularities in the case and wanted the CSD's help.
The person who accused Mr Ananwat of embezzlement is reportedly a friend of a police officer with a rank of colonel in Police Region 3, covering the lower Northeast, according to the complaint.
"My uncle [Mr Ananwat] had told me before his disappearance a senior police officer handling the robbery case threatened to kill him if he didn't submit to the charge," Mr Pasakorn said.
Mr Ananwat made an appointment on Sept 9 with his lawyer at a shopping mall. While he went to withdraw money from an ATM, someone phoned him,and he left the mall.
His lawyer said passers-by told him he was forced into a car by a group of men who looked like "plain-clothes police".
The disappearance of the pair is believed to be linked to a senior police officer.
Ananwat Atthanapol,45, who is involved in a direct sales business, and reporter Naret Yuwarat are believed to have been abducted by their rivals in a court case.
Mr Ananwat's nephew, Pasakorn Punnampet, said the people he suspected of abducting the pair might be connected with a senior police officer in the province who is involved in the case.
The pair have been missing since Sept 9 after appearing at Nakhon Ratchasima Municipal Court where Mr Ananwat was facing an embezzlement charge,Mr Pasakorn said.
Mr Pasakorn said he lodged a complaint with the CSD because he was unhappy with the progress of a previous complaint filed with police in the province. He said he suspected there might be irregularities in the case and wanted the CSD's help.
The person who accused Mr Ananwat of embezzlement is reportedly a friend of a police officer with a rank of colonel in Police Region 3, covering the lower Northeast, according to the complaint.
"My uncle [Mr Ananwat] had told me before his disappearance a senior police officer handling the robbery case threatened to kill him if he didn't submit to the charge," Mr Pasakorn said.
Mr Ananwat made an appointment on Sept 9 with his lawyer at a shopping mall. While he went to withdraw money from an ATM, someone phoned him,and he left the mall.
His lawyer said passers-by told him he was forced into a car by a group of men who looked like "plain-clothes police".
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