The family of Orachon "Praewa" Devahastin na Ayudhya had TV show host and actor Kanchai Kamnerdploy place 41.75-million-baht cashier cheques with the Civil Court on Tuesday to compensate victims of her fatal tollway crash in 2010.
Mr Kanchai handed the cheques worth 41,755,050.79 baht to Opas Anantasomboon, chief judge of the Civil Court.
Last month Praewa's mother Laddawan called into Mr Kanchai's programme, saying her family did not have enough cash to pay the amount due but was willing to sell some land to raise the funds. Mr Kanchai agreed to help but the sale did not go through, he said, so the family borrowed the 41.75-million-baht sum from relatives.
The sum fell short by more than 800,000 baht because it was based on interest as of last Friday. The family would give the outstanding amount in a few days, Mr Kanchai said.
The family of Praewa did not show up at the Civil Court on Tuesday because it was inconvenient to do so and they had apologised to the victims of the crash, he said.
A girl identified as Orachorn Thephasadin Na Ayudhya, 16, uses her mobile phone after a car she was driving was involved in a fatal crash with a passenger van on Dec 27, 2010.
Mr Opas said 26 people would receive the compensation and the Civil Court would make an appointment for all of them to accept it at the same time.
He said no one would have wished the crash to happen, the affected people suffered great losses and Praewa committed the crime when she was only 16 years old. Society should consider the situations of both sides, he said.
Praewa smashed the car she was driving into a public van, killing nine and injuring four others, on Dec 27, 2010. She was driving without a licence and using a mobile phone.
The Supreme Court on May 8 ordered the driver, her parents and the car owner to pay the families of the victims 25 million baht plus 7.5% interest from the day of the accident. It totalled 42.64 million baht.
