A woman who crashed her car into a group of cyclists killing three of them while under the influence of alcohol was sentenced to two years imprisonment by the Chiang Mai provincial court on Tuesday.
The court found Ms Patchuda Jairuen guilty of drunk driving causing deaths to three bicyclists. The incident took place on Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai highway in Chiang Mai’s Doi Saket district on May 3 last year.
The court initially handed down four years’ jailterm on the defendant but halved the sentence for her useful testimony without any suspension of the imprisonment. The court also revoked her driving licence.
Ms Patchuda was also ordered by the court to pay 1.7 million baht in compensation to the widow of one of the cyclists, Mr Samarn Kantha, and 435,000 baht in compensation to the parents of another victim, Mr Pongthep Kamkaew.
The defendant said she would appeal against her conviction and asked for bail through her lawyer.
Commenting on the court’s verdict, Dr Taeching Siripanich, secretary-general of No Drink Driving Foundation, admitted that he was surprised by the court’s refusal to suspend the jailterm for the defendant despite the fact that she is a student, noting that in most previous cases of fatal road accidents the court usually suspended the jailterm.
He said that the verdict should set a precedent for other drunk driving cases, noting that there are two important drunk driving cases still pending in the court.
