Sap Wapee, the alleged hired scapegoat in a 2005 deadly hit-and-run case involving former teacher Jomsap Saenmuangkhot, and his wife pleaded guilty to lying to police at a court hearing Monday.
Mr Sap and his wife, Jan Wapee, are among 11 suspects, described by investigators as members of a criminal network behind an illegal bid to secure a retrial for Ms Jomsap who was pardoned after serving 18 months of a 3 year sentence handed down in 2013.
The nine other accused are Ms Jomsap; Niran, her husband; Suriya Nualcharoen, and Saneh Suphan and Rotjana Chantharat, both Jomsap's friends.
The others are Thatsanee Hanphayak and Thongret Wongsricha, both witnesses in the retrial bid; Watsana Phetthong, Jomsap's nephew; and Thanat Suktalodpee, her lawyer.
Mr Sap and his wife, accompanied by their son, appeared at Nakhon Phanom provincial court yesterday and confessed to filing a false police complaint to police and giving a false statement to the Supreme Court, which subsequently rejected Ms Jomsap's retrial bid on Nov 17.
The pair, however, denied other charges, including unlawful assembly.
They will appear again on March 12, when Ms Jomsap is scheduled to testify before the court.
Speaking before the court hearing, Ms Thongret, one of the other nine accused, said she never thought she would end up in the dock in Ms Jomsap's case.
After a pickup truck struck and killed Lua Pobamrung in Nakhon Phanom's Renu Nakhon district on March 11, 2005, Ms Thongret said she thought she saw a man emerge from the vehicle before getting back inside and driving away quickly.
She said she did not see the licence plate or the make of vehicle at the time.
The incident, Ms Thongret said, took place when she was riding pillion on a motorcycle driven by Ms Thatsanee, her neighbour. Ms Thongret insisted she was not involved in the alleged scapegoat conspiracy. The court appointed a lawyer for her yesterday after Ms Thongret told the judges she did not have one.
Mr Niran, meanwhile, pleaded not guilty and asked for his hearing to be adjourned because his lawyer was working on another case.
The court granted the adjournment.
