Jailed monk gets 16 years for teen rape
Victim ‘feels nothing’ after court encounter
The Criminal Court sentenced Wirapol Sukphol, formerly Phra Nen Kham, to 16 years in jail for the repeated rape of an underage girl over nearly two years and separating her from her parents.
The court found Wirapol, 39, guilty of the offences based on the testimony of the victim, who is now 32 years old, and from her parents. They described clearly how the then-monk had arrived in his car at their house in Si Sa Ket province, took the girl away, and sexually abused her. The offences occurred from January 2000 to mid-2001. She was aged 14 at the time. He fathered a child by her.
He then fled the northeastern province to the United States when the Department of Special Investigation wanted to run a DNA test on him. The US allowed his extradition to Thailand last year.
He has been detained since his extradition on July 19 last year.
Wirapol had denied all the charges and insisted the victim’s child was not his.
The 16-year term consists of an eightyear jail term for separating a child from her parents and another eight years for sexual abuse. The court added the term to the previous sentence of 20 years for public fraud, money laundering and computer crime, bringing the total term to 36 years.
His victim was present for the ruling yesterday and said she is suing Wirapol f or 40 million baht in child support.
The then-monk had promised her family 10,000 ba ht a month, but the payments stopped after a while, she said. She said it was the first time she had confronted the former monk since he was prosecuted. She looked at him but the man avoided eye contact with her.
She said she no longer had any emotions when she saw him and that she was satisfied with the court ruling.
An unnamed lawyer who represents Wirapol said he would have to study the ruling before discussing with his client if he wanted to appeal.
On Aug 9, the Criminal Court sentenced Wirapol to 114 years in jail for deceiving 29 people into donating to bogus Buddhist and disaster relief projects and using the money to buy a jet and luxury cars.
The 114-year sentence is made up of an 87-year jail term for public fraud, three years for computer crime and 24 years for money laundering.
However, the court capped the jail term he will serve at the maximum 20 years, as required under Section 91 of the Penal Code for multiple offences.
The court also ordered him to repay the 29 complainants.
Wirapol was a monk at Wat Pa Khantitham in Kanthararom district, Si Sa Ket province.
In July last year, public prosecutors told the court that from Feb 17, 2009, to June 27, 2013, Wirapol had told people that in his dreams, the deity Indra had asked him to build a Buddha image as well as sacred objects and temples.
Among them were the world’s largest Buddha image made from emerald imported from Italy to be housed in a grand temple, three sets of gold seasonal attire for the Buddha, 199 temple pillars each valued at 300,000 baht, as well as a gold image of himself and more temples in Ubon Ratchathani and Suphan Buri provinces.
He invited people to donate cash, gold and other assets for his projects. He had also claimed that he planned to buy boats from the US to help flood victims.