Supreme Court upholds verdict on trash collector
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DESPITE THE PUBLIC outcry and sympathy for a municipal garbage collector slapped with a huge fine and then imprisoned for failing to pay it, the Supreme Court yesterday upheld the verdict against him delivered by two lower courts.
Surat Maeenopparatsuda, 28, said he had been prepared for the outcome, as he had no money to pay the Bt133,400 fine imposed after he was found guilty of selling scrapped compact discs.
He said he still worked part-time for the Bangkok administration but no longer risked selling any scrap he found.
“I am in the dark now. All I am concerned about now is my children” after being imprisoned, he added.
After failing to come up with the money to pay the fine, Surat was sent to prison to serve one day for every Bt200 he owed –- a total of 667 days.
The imprisonment of Surat made headlines and drew public anger in August 2010 when the Criminal Court handed him the Bt133,400 fine – a reduced rate following his confession – for his crimes linked to copyright infringement, after he |sold abandoned movie and music compact discs, for Bt20 apiece, from scrap he had collected.
The Court of Appeals upheld this verdict a few years later, when Surat was working for the Saphan Sung district office as a contract worker.
