The Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced Wirapol Sukphol, formerly Phra Nen Kham, to 16 years in jail for the repeated rape of an underage girl over nearly two years and separating her from her parents.
The court found Wirapol, 39, guilty of the offences based on detailed testimony from the young victim, who is now 32 years old, and from her parents. They described clearly how the then-monk had arrived in his car at their house in Si Sa Ket province, taken the girl away, and sexually abused her. The offences occurred from January 2000 to mid-2001. She was aged 14 at the time. He fathered a child by her.
He had then fled the northeastern province, escaping to the United States, when the Department of Special Investigation wanted to run a DNA test on him. The US allowed his extradition to Thailand last year.
Wirapol had denied all the charges.
The 16-year term consists of eight years for separating a child from her parents and another eight years for sexual abuse. The court added the term to the previous imprisonment period of 20 years for public fraud, money-laundering and computer crime, making the total term 36 years.
His victim was present for the court judgement on Wednesday and said she was suing Wirapol for 40 million baht in child support.
The then-monk had promised her family 10,000 baht a month, but the payments had stopped after a while, she said.