Undertaker sentenced for hiding foetuses
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The South Bangkok Criminal Court Thursday sentenced Suthep Chabongbon, an undertaker at Wat Phai Ngern, to three years and four months in jail for concealing and destroying illegally aborted human foetuses. This first case hit the headlines when some 2,000 foetuses were discovered on November 16, 2010.
Suthep, 47, and his assistant Suchat Phumee, 39, have been accused of concealing foetuses in 348 instances from November 1, 2009 to November 13, 2010. On January 27, Suchat was sentenced to 20 years in jail in another lawsuit related to this case.
During police interrogation, Suthep confessed that former nursing assistant Lanchakorn Chanthamanas had given him 15 foetuses to conceal and had been paid between Bt200 and Bt500 each time. However, he denied any wrongdoing in court, claiming that he was illiterate and had been lured to sign some papers after police promised to protect him as a witness.
