A cremation ceremony was held yesterday for Krasae Ployklum, the last surviving scapegoat in the Sherry Ann Duncan murder case. He died on Friday.
Duncan: Injustices spurred reform
Krasae was one of four men wrongly accused and convicted for murdering the Thai-American teenager in August 1986. Pol Col Narat Sawettanant, director general of the Department of Rights and Liberty Protection, attended the cremation ceremony. He said the case of the four wrongly convicted men had helped improve standards in the justice system and led to significant changes in the law and the way suspects are treated.
"The case is a first step in reforming the judicial system and the state has to take responsibility for the lives of scapegoats in criminal cases," Pol Col Narat said.
The case left a scar on Thai judicial history and efforts have since been made to prevent wrongful convictions.
Among the reforms is the passage of a law in 2002 to protect witnesses, suspects and defendants. The law calls for compensation to damaged parties who have been wrongly convicted.
Pol Col Narat said only about 15-20% of scapegoats have applied for compensation because they still know little about the law.
Pol Col Narat said he will ask national police chief Pol Gen Adul Saengsingkaew to direct police nationwide to inform damaged parties of their rights to compensation.
On July 25, 1986, 16-year-old Thai-American Sherry Ann Duncan was brutally murdered in Samut Prakan.
On Aug 21 that year, Samut Prakan police arrested five suspects _ Winai Chaipanich, Krasae Ploylkum, Rungchalerm Kanokchawanchai, Pitak Khakhai and Thawat Kitprayoon. Mr Winai was later released.
The primary court sentenced the other four men to death. After spending six years in jail, the Supreme Court declared them innocent and set them free in 1993.
Rungchalerm died in jail. Pitak died shortly after being released, while Thawat died in 1999. Krasae was disabled from spinal injuries sustained in prison.
In 2003, the Civil Court ordered the Royal Thai Police Office to pay 26 million baht to Krasae and relatives of his three deceased co-defendants.
In 1995, police arrested a woman for hiring two men to kill Duncan in revenge for having an affair with her boyfriend. The suspect was later acquitted.