The Justice Ministry has agreed to help the family of a motorcycle taxi driver -- who has been serving time for the last seven years for robbery and physical assault -- prove that he was wrongfully convicted.
Chairit Khanritthi and his family on Tuesday petitioned the ministry to re-investigate the Aug 5, 2008 robbery and assault case in which he claimed his son, Kanokphrom Khanritthi, was wrongfully charged and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
The father submitted a new petition directly to Dusadee Arayawuth, a deputy permanent secretary for justice, after earlier submitting one last year with the ministry's centre that handles complaints from people who claim to be scapegoats in criminal cases.
Pol Col Dusadee said the ministry has assigned the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to verify the evidence and interview witnesses.
He was convinced the ministry should dig deeper into the case and petition the court for a retrial.
The DSI team probing the claim of innocence found the "real" robber who had brutally attacked his victim in front of Bang Na Hospital in Bang Na district of Bangkok on Aug 5, 2008 is possibly Nikon Maiwong, who is currently being detained at Samut Prakan central prison on another matter, said Pol Col Dusadee.
Sawat Chantharat, a resident of Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan, told the DSI team that Nikon had stolen his motorcycle on the night of Aug 4, 2008, prompting him to file a complaint regarding the stolen bike with police two days later, said Pol Col Dusadee.
Left: Kanokphrom, now believed convicted of an attack and robbery in Bang Na in 2008. Right: Justice officials now believe Nikon Maiwong is the real culprit.
Mr Sawat said he knew Nikon was the one who stole his motorcycle as they were acquaintances in the same neighbourhood, said Pol Col Dusadee, adding Nikon had a criminal record for receiving stolen property and possession of narcotics.
The stolen bike was later used in the robbery on Aug 5, 2008.
Nikon was arrested later for stealing the bike.
He had been jailed three times over drug possession, theft and robbery, said Pol Col Dusadee.
According to the DSI investigation, the stolen motorcycle was first owned by Somphong Khanritthi, an uncle of Kanokphrom, whose name is still on record as the owner of the bike even though it had been sold three times since, said Pol Col Dusadee.
That is because the new buyers of the bike, including Mr Sawat, did not bother to update its registration, he said.
So, when police investigators tracked the registration of the bike after it was used in the robbery, they implicated Mr Somphong in the crime, said Pol Col Dusadee.
Since the victim insisted the attacker was a teen, the police looked for a youngster with links to Mr Somphong whom they could question.
They found Kanokphrom whose photo happened to look similar to the description of the attacker, according to Pol Col Dusadee.
Kanokphrom, a motorcycle taxi driver, was arrested, charged and sentenced to 23 years in jail on the offences.
The ministry had since submitted a petition to the court to reopen the case and was working with the Metropolitan Police Bureau on it, said Pol Col Dusadee.