TV host hands over cheques to compensate Praewa victims
The family of Orachon “Praewa” Devahastin na Ayudhya had TV host and actor Kanchai Kamnerdploy place 41.75 million baht in cashier cheques with the Civil Court yesterday to compensate victims of her deadly tollway crash in 2010.
Kanchai handed the cheques to Opas Anantasomboon, chief judge of the Civil Court, who said the 25 victims would receive the compensation at the same time.
“No one would have wished the crash to happen. The affected people suffered great losses and Praewa committed the crime when she was only 16 years old. Society should consider the situations of both sides,” said Mr Opas after receiving the cheques.
Last month Ms Laddawan — Praewa’s mother, called Kanchai’s programme, saying her family did not have enough cash to pay the compensation but was willing to sell some land to raise the funds.
Kanchai agreed to help but the sale did not go through, he said, so the family borrowed the sum from relatives.
The sum still falls short by more than 800,000 baht, but the family will pay the outstanding amount in a few days, Kanchai told the media yesterday after handing over the cheques.
On Dec 27, Praewa crashed her car into a public van, killing nine and injuring four others. She was 16 year old at that time and was thus not yet eligible to have a driving licence.
Her reaction after the crash was lambasted by the public when images showed her playing with her mobile phone emerged.
The Supreme Court on May 8 this year ordered Praewa, her parents and the car owner to pay the families of the victims 25 million baht plus 7.5% interest from the day of the accident. The total amount of compensation came to 42.64 million baht.