About the law

Police officer gets sentenced to six years in jail.

One doesn't see news articles like the one below very often. This raises several questions:

1. What happened  to the victim afterwards?
2. Was she herself later treated as a criminal (as the offending police officer intended) and deported?
3. How was this crime initially discovered?
4. Does this sort of crime happen often? (border areas would seem especially vulnerable)
5. How would we know whether this sort of crime happens often?
6. Is there a system in the police department for monitoring and discovering this sort of crime? (See Internal Affairs)
7. If such a system exists, does it catch corruption at high levels of the police force as well as at low levels?
8. Does this sort of threat common in other situations? (example: employer of an illegal worker)
9. Are similar crimes perpetrated against Thais working abroad? (as this Burmese woman was working abroad)  
10. With regard to the sentence: "the Burmese woman had agreed to sex in exchange for her freedom, the intercourse was not an act of rape," the crime of rape is defined in the dictionary as "forcing someone to have sex against their will," so wasn't the threat of jail "forcing" the woman to do this?
11. Is the detailed reasoning and evidence behind legal opinions such as this open for public perusal?
12. If the trial documents are publicly available, is critical evaluation and critique of these materials itself legal in Thailand? (See Critical Legal Studies)

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CRIME: Officer jailed for demanding sex in return for freedom

A Bangkok policeman has been jailed for six years for forcing a Burmese woman whom he had taken into custody to have sex with him in exchange for being freed without charge

The Bangkok South Criminal Court yesterday found Pol Snr Sgt Maj Phairat, or Suraphat Sribuaban, an officer with Phlapphla Chai 1 police station, guilty of demanding the 27-year-old illegal Burmese immigrant - identified only as Nid - have sex with him on July 25, 2009.

The verdict said the policeman detained the Burmese woman while patrolling the Khlong Maha Nak area

But instead of handing her over to relevant police officers for prosecution, he told her that if she would have sex with him, he would release her without charge. She agreed and he let her go after the act.

The court found him guilty of violating Section 149 of the Criminal Code by demanding a bribe in exchange for not performing his duties.

The public prosecutor had also filed a rape charge against Pol Snr Sgt Maj Phairat but the court ruled that since the Burmese woman had agreed to sex in exchange for her freedom, the intercourse was not an act of rape.

(Source: Bangkok Post, CRIME, Officer jailed for demanding sex in return for freedom, 2/03/2011, link)

victim - a person who has been harmed, injured or killed as the result of a crime เหยื่อ,ผู้รับบาป, ผู้รับเคราะห์, บุคคลที่ได้รับผลร้ายหรือเรื่องไม่ดีโดยไม่ได้คาดหมายหรือไม่ได้เป็นผู้ก่อเรื่องนั้นขึ้น
deport - send a person out of the country (because they no longer have the legal right to be there) เนรเทศออกจากประเทศ
vulnerable - in a situation or position in which harm, hurt or injury is likely or happens easily 
monitor - to watch some process carefully, to check for problems
perpetrate - to do something that is harmful, illegal or dishonest
legal opinion - a written explanation by a judge or group of judges that accompanies an order or ruling in a case, laying out the rationale and legal principles for the ruling (See Wikipedia)
peruse (verb) - (formal) to read something
perusal (noun) - (formal) the act or process of reading something

taken into custody - arrested and put in jail
charge - to accuse someone officially of committing a crime ตั้งข้อกล่าวหา
officer - a high level person in an organisation with special responsibilities (a government officer, a police officer, an army officer)
guilty - proven in a court of law to have committed a crime มีความผิด
illegal - against the law ผิดกฎหมาย, นอกกฎหมาย
immigrant - a person who has come to a different country in order to live there permanently ผู้อพยพ, คนย้ายถิ่น
identified - named ระบุชื่อ

verdict - the decision in a court of law on whether a person committed a crime and what the punishment should be
patrol - when police of soldiers move around an area to stop dangerous or illegal and make it safe ตรวจตรา
relevant - directly connected with and important to what is being discussed or considered ที่เกี่ยวข้องโดยตรง

prosecution - the person or organisation that tries to prove in court that someone has committed a crime อัยการ
release - to allow someone to go free, to let someone leave a place where they have been kept, in this case jail ปล่อยตัว, ปล่อยเป็นอิสระ
bribe - money or a present given to someone so that they will help you doing something dishonest or illegal สินบน
duties - responsibilities, something that you must do (as part  of your job or because of social relationships you have, example: being a father) ความรับผิดชอบ

public prosecutor - the lawyer (and government department) whose job is to prove in court that a person is guilty of a crime อัยการ (See Wikipedia)
filed - to take official action, e.g., to make a formal complaint ยื่นฟ้องร้อง
rape - the crime of forcefully having sex with someone against their wish การข่มขืน
intercourse - sex, sexual intercourse