The unlicensed teen driver who killed nine people and injured four others in a crash on Don Muang tollway five years ago has been accused of breaching her community service order.
Pol Col Narat Sawetanant, director-general of the Probation Department, revealed yesterday that Orachorn “Praewa” Thephasadin na Ayudhya, now 22, has violated the court order to perform 48 hours of community service each year for four years — a condition of her avoiding jail time.
Ms Orachorn crashed her Honda Civic into the back of a passenger van carrying students and staff from Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus on Dec 27, 2010. She was 16 years old at the time, too young to hold a driving licence.
Orachorn ‘Praewa’ Thephasadin Na Ayudhya.
Ms Orachorn was charged with driving without a licence, reckless driving causing death and injury, property damage and using a mobile phone while driving.
She was eventually sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for four years. As a condition of her release she was ordered to perform 48 hours of community service each year for four years.
Pol Col Narat said that after the court placed Ms Orachorn on probation, she was required to reach an agreement with Probation Department officials as to where she would be sent to perform community service. He said Ms Orachorn had failed to consult with the officials.
Instead Ms Orachorn claimed that she had already performed community service at Phramongkutklao Hospital, Pol Col Narat said.
"Checks have found that Praewa failed to fulfil her probation conditions," Pol Col Narat said. "She claimed she was afraid that she might be in danger if she did community service elsewhere.
"When authorities alerted her family that she had failed to meet her probation conditions, the family petitioned the Office of the Ombudsman, accusing probation authorities of threatening her."
Pol Col Narat said the department has told the court that Ms Orachorn failed to fulfil her probation conditions, adding that the court has set June 21 to make a judgement on the case.
Pol Col Narat said Ms Orachorn had been given a chance to redeem herself, to continue with her studies and perform community service, but had still failed to follow the legal conditions.
A source at the Probation Department said jail terms are rare in cases of probation breaches. In some serious cases, the court will only send them to juvenile training centres run by the Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection.
Another source at the Justice Ministry said the court intended for Ms Orachorn to perform community service by looking after hospital patients to make her understand the consequences of road accidents.
But there were no reports of her performing the assigned community service. The only record was that Ms Orachorn had donated blood, which was allowed to be translated into six hours of community service, the source said.
Probation Department officials are not allowed to ask hospitals to issue a certificate for community service hours, the source said. Ms Orachorn claimed that she did community service at Phramongkutklao Hospital because the hospital belongs to the army and has tight security, the source added.
According to a source at the probation office in Nonthaburi where Ms Orachorn is required to report every three months, Ms Orachorn has not performed any community service over the past three years, saying she was "busy" with her studies. Probation authorities tried to be lenient towards her, the source added.
However, Ms Orachorn last month sent her lawyer to report to the court that she had done 90 hours of community service at the hospital and present a document signed by the hospital as proof, the source said. The lawyer also asked that the 48 hours be reduced to 36, the source added.
Bang-ern Jinantuya, the mother of Pinyo Jinantuya, who was killed in the crash, said she never expected Ms Orachorn to comply with the court order.
"I didn’t think she would comply given her past behaviour. She did not respect the relatives of the victims, and she did not even meet us for talks," Ms Bang-ern said.