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The Criminal Court sentenced "Prasit Jiawkok" to an additional 4 years and 12 months in prison for attempting to escape during a testimony hearing, while his accomplice was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months.
At the Criminal Court on 21 Jul, the court delivered a verdict in a case where the public prosecutor filed charges against Mr. Somprasong Tipsukon and Mr. Prasit Jiawkok. Mr. Somprasong was accused of attempting to help Mr. Prasit escape during a testimony and evidence examination related to a 2022 public fraud case involving investment scams with coupons, travel packages, and a savings cooperative system. Both defendants pleaded guilty.
The facts established that on 22 Dec 2022 during daytime, Mr. Prasit and accomplices, not yet in custody, colluded to steal a BOA W.W.W.BOA-S.T.COM MEDECO brand ankle shackle key, serial number 4, valued at 9,950 baht, from Klong Prem Central Prison. This key was stored inside the detainee control building of the prison, a government facility under the Department of Corrections, located in Lat Yao Subdistrict, Chatuchak District, Bangkok, and was taken through fraudulent means.
Between early December 2022, exact time unspecified, and 22 Dec 2022 daytime, Mr. Somprasong assisted Mr. Prasit—defendant in criminal case number อ.1837/2564 at the Criminal Court, charged with conspiracy to borrow money by fraud, conspiracy to defraud the public, and conspiracy to input false data into a computer system likely to cause damage to the public—while Mr. Prasit was shackled as part of court custody. They conspired for Mr. Prasit to escape from courtroom number 903.
Mr. Somprasong and others, not yet in custody, procured and delivered a short-sleeved blue shirt, jeans, a pair of shoes, and socks to Mr. Prasit as clothes to change out of his prison uniform. They also provided 11,000 baht in cash for use during the escape. Mr. Prasit changed clothes in a ninth-floor restroom, escaped from the men's restroom to the ninth-floor central hallway, then descended stairs to the third floor of the Criminal Court building. The escape occurred on 22 Dec 2022. On the same day, officers arrested Mr. Prasit with all the evidence recovered.
The court ruled that Mr. Somprasong was guilty of aiding a person in custody to escape, where the escapee was someone sentenced to seven years in prison. Since Mr. Somprasong pleaded guilty, his sentence was halved. He was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison.
Mr. Prasit was found guilty of conspiracy to steal property from a government place, punishable by 7 years, and for escaping custody, punishable by 3 years. Having pleaded guilty, his sentence was halved, resulting in a total sentence of 4 years and 12 months. This sentence will run consecutively after his sentences in six other cases.