Drunk student who killed three cyclists given a 2 year sentence

[mike324]

" secretary-general of No Drink Driving Foundation, admitted that he was surprised by the court’s refusal to suspend the jailterm for the defendant despite the fact that she is a student, noting that in most previous cases of fatal road accidents the court usually suspended the jailterm."

How can even a secretary-general of a No Drink Driving Foundation, the very foundation who is campaigning against no drunk driving not expect full extent of the law to be applied? I bet even the girls family and lawyers were surprise the jail sentence was not suspended after paying millions and admitting to the crime. Seems like justice has been serve, now the question is will the girl actually report to jail or will she try to drag the case on with appeals.

I imagine that he was surprised because they normally suspend the jail term and on this occasion they didn't. It doesn't say that he approved either way and he may well have been quite pleased that for once they didn't.

you are correct, we don't know his tone...he may be surprise that finally the guilty has been given a non suspended jail sentence

[atyclb]

surprised lots of tv posters haven't volunteered to be her designated driver(s)

[pkspeaker]

yea and those 3 people decided to engage in this activity, cycling on Thailand's roads which are not safe for cycleing, the police have urged the public to only cycle on the designated bike pathes in parks like the one near the airport because they see so much carnage from bicycle accidents.. we don't really know how drunk she was at 6.15 AM, she most likely partied all night and then waited until the morning to drive home but dozed at the wheel, when i had a job that forced me to drive early in the morning to work in the US i dozed several times, it was hard to stay awake when you just were forced to wake up and are then in a comfortable sitting position, this could happen to anyone..

This girl made a terrible mistake. She had no intent to kill anyone. She is young, as we all were once. In the past many people, including myself, have driven a car under the influence and are lucky we are not walking in her shoes. What we did was wrong and hopefully do not do it again. She is also wrong- but to destroy the rest of her life would also be wrong. The sentence was fair and matches what a person in the USA would most likely get for a similar situation. She will get bail during her appeal which is also consistent with a Western court. She and he family will have to live with the stigma of this situation forever, which in Thailand, maybe worse than the jail sentence.

How sad that you believe that her sentence was fair and that she will have to live with it for the rest of her life.

There are 3 people who were alive and who had the rest of. their lives to live until she killed them.

There are 3 families who have lost someone that they have loved and will NEVER see again, yet you bleat about how awful it must be for the girl.

She was NOT the victim, the three people that she killed were. She was the cause of it but at least she has a life to get over it with.

HER victims don't.

[Mad Dog]

(cycle is obviously poorer than a Toyota sedan)

That's a ridiculous statement. A road bike normally costs about 100,000B for a Specialized up to 500,000B for a Pinarello and what makes you think that your average cyclist doesn't also own a car or truck? Cycling is far from being a poor man's sport.

[Deez]

How the F$#K do you get bail when you confess???

[pkspeaker]

your ugly on the outside and inside

She is very beautiful !

x


Outside maybe ....but inside far from it......

Total injustice....

Next stop Temple, to wipe the slate clean.....

[Myshkin]

cyclists are not valued as human beings like motorists. This is a world-wide issue.

Ironically, the cyclist usually owns a car and makes good money at work. sure, SE Asia might not fit this generalization.

Some bikes are now 10,000 USD.....

But we are pests of the road, getting in the way of society, trying to improve our health and enjoy the scenery while drivers usually hate us. You ride in a pack!!! they yell, while the driver goes 100 in a 50 speed limit, while texting and sometimes smoking/drinking. they use their power over us, able to kill us at any moment.....bullying, which sometimes results in death.

i say 20-years per death, but that's just me....

10'000 USD for a bicycle? For that money can buy a motorbike or a car.

The safety of the bikes are now controlled by the government over here. In my home country (Switzerland), every bike must have a dynamo and lights (front and rearside). They even had license plates and paid a yearly fee for the road tax, otherwise it was not allowed to drive on public road.

It seems you have left Switzerland decades ago. If indeed front and rear lights are legally mandatory in Switzerland, a few nights out in Geneva will convince you many cyclists don't abide by this law (myself included, c'mon guys throw the stones), and the cops are extremely lenient in enforcing this law, I've never been fined in over 13 years.

The license plates have been replaced in 1989 by the 'vignette' proving you were insured (no road tax). The vignette was eventually abandoned in 2012 and nowadays you are covered by you private civil insurance policy or if you don't have one you will have to pay from your own pocket for damages you may create.

[KunMatt]

I remember all the threads last year on this and everyone was carrying on she wouldnt get anything

Oh yes, she got a 2 year sentence for drunk driving and causing an accident but nothing for killing each of the cyclists. Do you think that this is fair and just?

[tubby johnson]

This is just a face-saving exercise for the police and courts, and a convenient occasion for the media to vent their outrage and then forget about the matter entirely.

She'll never spend a minute in jail.

[connda]

Two years in a Thai prison probably isn't a picnic in the park. My guess is that on top of the cash compensation, the two year sentence is a facsimile of a just sentence.

To put it in perspective, my daughter died in a one car accident when her boyfriend took his car off the road at high speed resulting in her death. He got a $400 fine. He had no insurance. My insurance paid out $50K. The money was inconsequential other than for her funeral.
So - define 'justice' for me? I would have considered a two year sentence and a $50K civil fine as 'justice'. Without 'skin-in-the-game' I don't think that TVs arm-chair jurists really can understand.

[iReason]

"She was sentenced to four years reduced to two years on her admission of the offence."

"The defendant said she would appeal against her conviction and asked for bail through her lawyer."

[connda]

"She was sentenced to four years reduced to two years on her admission of the offence."

"The defendant said she would appeal against her conviction and asked for bail through her lawyer."

Agreed. I don't see how the lawyer will appeal the conviction considering she, apparently, took a plea bargain - but the Thai justice system is a different animal. Or maybe it wasn't a plea bargain. Who knows? I just pretty sure they do not have jury trials here.

[Thechook]

Complete joke the justices system in Thailand ..

Thailand has just claimed the Justice "HUB" of ASEAN.

[Thechook]

Don't get me wrong, the girl deserves plus 2 years for her actions but a hiso getting 3 months community service for killing 9 tourists doesn't add up. Thailand is now the Justice HUB of ASEAN so that states it has the best justice system in the entire S/E Asia. ASEAN now look to Thailand as a fair and just judicial system, Thailand is setting the mark for ASEAN. Hope the two Burmese guys are feeling confident. God help ASEAN with the Thai judicial system as the leader.

[Siameaze]

One report says "causing damage" other says "causing death". Need some accuracy in the media.

Regardless, ......a 2 year sentence? 8 months for each slaughtered victim.

Unbelievable to be asking for a suspended sentence for drunk driving killing people.

Juris imprudence

[gandalf12]

You wouldn't be saying that if you had done even a month in a Thai prison, 2 years in a Thai prison is hell and alot of ya'll would be contemplating suicide after the 1st week if you were doing a 2 year stint.

Complete joke the justices system in Thailand ..

You sound like a person with personal experience. Maybe it hasn't crossed your mind but jail is not supposed to be a holiday camp. Of course it is rough but if you didn't commit a crime you wouldn't be there.

I am guessing you are American. Only thing I can say is if you have been in a Thai jail then you probably deserved it.

[snoopy21]

Life is really cheap here!

She must be a daughter of certain celebrity!

[pacovl46]

So driving drunk and killing 3 people gets you two years, having a tiny amount of coke on you gives you two decades?! Wow!

[ozyjon]

Stay away from accidents

[Johpa]

Instead of the relatives of the dead demanding a longer sentence and justice they just demand more money in compensation. An illustration of Thai mentality if ever there was one.

Yes, perhaps a superior mentality than that commonly seen in the west or perhaps no different than in the west where civil lawsuits are brought to wring far more money out of people than any Thai police mediator. At least the Thai police mediator will only take 10% whereas the mentality of at least the common American is for the lawyers to take 30-50%.

[billd766]

Good grief another outrage-orgy from the 'stone her to death' brigade.

Thaidream worded it very well.

Also, we all know multiple people who do the exact same thing she did, every single week. Suggest to direct some of the effort towards those people instead of bleating on a forum just to make yourself feel good.

Actually "we", as in me, don't know anybody who is like that any more and I haven't done for many years.

[khomlong1]

Nothing but an irresponsible muderous degenerate.

[oldsailor35]

Happens all over the world, sadly !

Name a few cases please.

[cyberfarang]

This is just a face-saving exercise for the police and courts, and a convenient occasion for the media to vent their outrage and then forget about the matter entirely.

She'll never spend a minute in jail.

I think you`re right. She has the right to appeal the sentence and if she can up the ante a bit, she`ll probably walk away.

[Balance]

She received the two year sentence in return for admitting her guilt. Can any Thai lawyers on TV explain how she retains any right to appeal the sentence after she pleads guilty to the charges and for that plea gets a reduction in the sentence?

[catman20]

this hiso chick will never serve a day in jail 100%

[hawker9000]

It should be more than 2 years its laughable.

Show me an in situ pic of her in her prison garb and maybe I'll believe it. Thailand has GOT to know that the world assigns no credibility to stuff like this. None.

[Oscar2]

How can she appeal if she admitted it and if she appeals will her original 4 year sentence be endorsed

she is appealing the sentence; not the conviction itself. personally i think she should have received more like 8 years.

[KilgoreTrout]

I am fed up with hearing apologists for this girl - or the same thing happens in the USA so it must be OK. so she was a nice girl and that means we should go easy on her because she is young and attractive and treated like a movie star. she needs to serve 4 years for being drunk and committing manslaughter in the UK they would throw the book at her.

[MaxYakov]

1) Her sentence and her appeal are/will be a fait accompli and will not bring the victims back. Her sentence, however draconian, would be soon forgotten if it were even noticed by motor vehicle operators that drink and operate them.

2) Motorbike/cycle operators, not cyclists, are the largest number of accident victims in Thailand largely due to drinking/speeding.

3) Contrary to at least one poster's opinion that the RTP frowns on some level on road/street cycling, that has not been my experience at the street level with the BiB in Bangkok.

4) By my observations in and outside Bangkok, most cycling is being done A-to-B transportation and is not "sport" cycling, as one poster has asserted.

5) I have seen only one, non-sidewalk "bicycle lane" in Bangkok that actually provides a separation between motor vehicles and cyclists. That one, near Khao San Road has only flimsy vertical, plastic tubes separating MV traffic from the cyclists. Many bicycle lanes in Bangkok are actually dedicated and marked sidewalk/footpath.

6) Cyclists, even though they are operating a wheeled vehicle, are more akin to pedestrians than the are to motor vehicles. This is because they cannot operate at motor vehicle speeds, have little more than the crash protection of pedestrians and are only slightly more visible than are pedestrians. They often operate where motor vehicles cannot. Sharing a road with high-speed motor vehicles with a bicycle is in the same vein, in my opinion, as walking or using a skateboard or a push scooter.

7) Many, if not most,cyclists I've observed through my seven years of cycling in Bangkok cycle irresponsibility. Most eschew mirrors and other safety equipment and will often operate in traffic with seeming impunity and belief of their immortality without consideration of their own safety and their interference with and safety of motor vehicle traffic.

My Conclusion:

Cyclists in Thailand, urban or suburban, and throughout the World, are at high risk when operating in close proximity to motor vehicle traffic (as are pedestrians) and do little to lower their risk by taking personal action. Bicycles and motorized vehicles should not share any high-speed road or street where there is not a physical separation between them and the motor vehicles.

I have taken steps personally to minimize my risk while cycling based on the, above, points. There are Bangkok streets that I avoid when there is high-speed motor vehicle traffic. I will often prefer to "reverse" and operate as a pedestrian, facing traffic, in many traffic situations. Bicycle lanes get little preference for me as the sidewalks are usually just as convenient and usually much safer. Depending on the nature and speed of traffic, I will often wait until I have a road clear of motor vehicle traffic before using the road and then will often sprint to the next lower-risk section of road to avoid being passed from behind by a motor vehicle. I have assumed that it was the intent of the BMA that sidewalk/footpaths, so marked, are to be used as bicycles lanes. I have presumed, for my safety and the safety of others, that all sidewalks/footpaths are to be used as bicycle lanes.

This is the "short list".

Most cyclists would consider these steps to be too inconvenient and would not accept or observe them.