Teachers Sentenced to Life in Prison for Sexually Abusing Under Age Girls

Four of six teachers and two school alumni accused of long-term sexual abuse of three female students in Northern Thailand’s Mukdahan province were sentenced to life in jail.

Thicha Nanakorn, an adviser to the Child, Youth, and Family Foundation, reported on Facebook yesterday that the foundation and other local partners began assisting the victims in 2020 in pursuing criminal and civil charges against eight teachers and students, until the provincial court agreed to hear the case on July 1, 2020.

She referenced a Friday verdict by the Mukdahan provincial court. She stated that the student victims were all under the age of 15 when the sexual assault began. Because there was insufficient evidence to show their involvement, two teachers were given the benefit of the doubt.

According to Ms Thicha, the convicted six parties were also ordered to jointly pay financial compensation to the victims in the amount of roughly 3 million baht, plus 7.5% interest per year.

Ms Thicha stated that she intends to meet with Education Minister Pol Gen Permpoon Chidchob to discuss how to prevent such sexual attacks from occurring in the future.

She claimed that in the Mukdahan case, serial abuse of pupils occurred at the home of one of the convicted teachers from May 16, 2019 to March 4, 2020.

Teachers Arrested in 2020

The Six teacher at a public school in Mukdahan were suspended in 2020 after being charged with sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl. Two other school grads are also accused of participating, and all are believed to have videotaped the actions.

The occurrences allegedly began in March of last year, but the victim’s grandma only recently learnt of them. She filed a complaint with the police in Phueng Daed, and they secured arrest warrants.

The guys were accused of sexually abusing a girl under the age of 15 and depriving her of parental care.

The accused then surrendered to police and were hauled to court, where they were each released on 200,000 baht bond, thus ending further investigations.

The teachers were removed from the school and assigned to office positions while a disciplinary investigation was conducted.

The grandmother of the Matthayom Suksa 2 schoolgirl informed police that the six teachers and two other men sexually harassed her granddaughter in various locations across the school premises beginning in 2019.

According to investigators, the teachers allegedly threatened to have her repeat lessons if she refused to have sex with them. The girl was afraid to tell anybody about the incidents until her grandmother just discovered about them.

There were later reports that the same suspects had sexually abused another girl, a Mathayom Suksa 4 student at the same school.

The deputy national police spokesman, Pol Col Krissana Pattanacharoen, acknowledged that detectives had received a related complaint from a 16-year-old girl.

He stated that national police commander Chakthip Chaijinda has directed officers in charge of the case to gather evidence and ensure justice for all parties.