Jomsap gets her first day in court seeking retrial

The three-day hearing to determine whether to hold a retrial of the hit-and-run killing case involving a former Sakon Nakhon female teacher opened Wednesday.

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Jomsap in court to clear name

Post Reporters

The three-day hearing to determine whether to hold a retrial of the hit-and-run killing case involving a former Sakon Nakhon female teacher opened Wednesday, without the man who claimed he drove the car involved in the fatal accident as a witness.

An attempt to prove the former teacher's pickup truck was never involved in the crash was the highlight of the hearing's first day.

The hearing at the Nakhon Phanom Provincial Court was postponed from last month after Sap Wapee, the man who claimed to be the real culprit who drove a pickup truck in the accident, failed to appear in court to testify ouin favr of former teacher Jomsap Saenmuangkhot.

Jomsap was sentenced to three years and two months in prison by the Supreme Court in 2013 after being found guilty of knocking down and killing an elderly cyclist in Nakhon Phanom on March 11, 2005.

She was released following a royal pardon in April 2015. Jomsap later pursued a wrongful conviction case with the Justice Ministry, which eventually agreed to seek a retrial with the court.

Deputy permanent secretary for justice Dusadee Arayawuth said the ministry, which backed Jomsap's retrial, has decided not to put Mr Sap on the stand because the hearing is intended to to show the court that Jomsap's Toyota pickup truck, carrying the Bor Khor 56 Sakon Nakhon number plate, was never involved in the hit-and-run accident.

He said the ministry had compiled both the facts and material evidence to present in court, noting that the case would set a precedent for any cases seeking a retrial as it would prove Jomsap's innocence.

"Mr Sap isn't relevant to this hearing and it is useless to prove if he committed a crime. The ministry and the police have shared information and if it turns out people trying to help Ms Jomsap are doing something illegal to force a retrial, police will investigate. It's not the ministry's job to prove Mr Sap's involvement," he said.

Mr Sap, however, showed up at the court in the afternoon but was escorted out soon after.

The ministry has nine witnesses for the three-day hearing that runs until tomorrow. Jomsap's witnesses took the stand Wednesday while police and prosecution witnesses will testify today and tomorrow.

Pongsa Ratree, Jomsap's chief lawyer, said the team has two witnesses, Thassanee Harnphayak, 61, and Thongret Wongsricha, 51, who would confirm the driver was a man.

The other witnesses included Prapat Saenmuangkhot, a relative who purchased the car from Jomsap, vehicle experts from the Department of Land Transport and King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, and engineers from Toyota Motor Thailand Co Ltd.

Jomsap was the first witness to testify Wednesday, maintaining her innocence.

She told the court the ministry had the pickup truck inspected by experts and the result confirmed it was not involved in the fatal hit-and-run accident.

However, the pickup was involved in an accident two years before the hit-and-run case. Her husband was driving the vehicle when it hit a pole and a barbed wire fence. The car was repaired, but not repainted.

The vehicle was sold to Mr Prapat on the same day of the 2005 accident.

Mr Prapat told the court that the transfer of ownership of the pickup had been completed when the accident happened on March 11, 2005 but Jomsap had borrowed it from him because she needed to use it.

He said he sent a relative to pick the vehicle up the next morning but he did not notice any unusual marks. After the transfer, he had the headlights changed and did nothing else to the vehicle.

The first day of the Jomsap court hearing focussed on this pickup which police claim is the vehicle that hit and killed a cyclist in 2005.

The vehicle was loaded onto a car transporter and delivered to the court to enable the court to examine it. However, the court said it would have vehicle experts inspect the pickup later.

Police investigators found white and green paint on the bicycle. It was suggested the paint was from the licence plate of Jomsap's vehicle.

Chartchai Tosinthiti, a senior official at the Department of Special Investigation and head of the ministry's fact-finding committee, told the court that an inspection of Jomsap's pickup showed that the height did not match. The vehicle had no crash marks either.

He said the pickup was inspected by Toyota Motor Thailand Co Ltd technicians who confirmed the vehicle was never repainted but could not say if it was involved in an accident.

The prosecution questioned why the ministry chose the Department of Land Transport, not the Central Institute of Forensic Science.

Mr Chartchai said the institute is under the Justice Ministry's supervision and its role in the case may lead to a question of transparency.

Office of the Judiciary spokesman, Suebpong Sripongkul, said it will take the Nakhon Phanom Provincial Court some time to review the evidence.

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