Supreme Court upholds 50-year jail term for boss who raped employee
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sentenced an employer to 50 years in jail for raping a female employee on several occasions in 2008.
The court found Surachai Wiwattanachart, 41, guilty of raping “Yui”, not real name, an employee of his International Detective Co Ltd, repeatedly from April 19 to August 10 in 2008.
The Supreme Court retained the sentence handed down by the primary and appeals courts against Surachai and amended the conviction description from detention to rape.
Surachai and his wife, Thanawan Udommeechai, 50, were charged with collaborating to detain and rape the employee and threatening to release video clips of the rapes.
The lower courts jailed the wife for 10 years as an accomplice but she jumped bail before the Appeals Court read the verdict.
The Appeals Court issued an arrest warrant for her in 2014 and fined her bail guarantor Bt1 million.
The Supreme Court earlier postponed the reading of the verdict twice because the wife was not there to hear it.
On Tuesday, the court read the verdict against her in absentia and she was acquitted.
Rassamee Waiyanet, the lawyer of the victim, said the victim would sue Surachai in the Civil Court for compensation now that the criminal case was over.
