Teachers jailed for sex abuse

Four of six teachers and two students accused of being involved in the prolonged sexual abuse of three female students in Mukdahan have been sentenced to life imprisonment, according to Thicha Nanakorn, an adviser to the Child, Youth and Family Foundation.

The foundation and other local partners in 2020 began helping the victims pursue criminal and civil charges against eight teachers and students, until the provincial court agreed on July 1, 2020 to hear the case, she posted on Facebook on Saturday.

She cited a ruling handed down on Friday by the Mukdahan provincial court. The student victims were all under 15 years of age at the time the sexual abuse began, she said.

Two teachers were given the benefit of the doubt as there was insufficient evidence to prove their involvement.

The convicted six parties were also ordered to jointly pay financial compensation of around 3 million baht, plus interest of 7.5% per year, to the victims, said Ms Thicha.

Ms Thicha said she planned to seek talks with Education Minister Pol Gen Permpoon Chidchob about how to prevent similar sexual assaults from happening again.

In the Mukdahan case, she said, repeated abuse of the students occurred from May 16, 2019 until March 4, 2020 at the house of one of the convicted teachers.