Court dismisses claim 16-year-old enslaved by ‘high-society’ Monta

The 60-year-old Monta, who has been detained at Central Women’s Correctional Institute in Bang Khen district since her arrest on July 29, 2016 was brought to court on Friday to hear the verdict on a human trafficking charge in her alleged luring of the teen with a promise of a Bt5,000-salary job and scholarship.
But the girl alleged that she had been forced to serve as a house maid from 5am to 10pm without pay or a day off from May 2008-November 2010.
The court ruled that Monta, who gave the girl Bt100 a day to attend a school from which the girl resigned four months after enrollment, had failed to pay an agreed wage.
Monta had been previously sentenced on October 19, 2017 to three years in prison for human trafficking in a lawsuit brought by her former maid identified only as Kanchana from Mae Hong Son. Monta had withheld the maid’s national ID card and reneged on her promise to pay her Bt6,000 a month in salary and to finance her training at a nursing college. The court also ordered Monta to pay Kanchana Bt590,007 in compensation. 
Monta was also sentenced to seven years and six months on June 6, 2017 for a lese majeste offence, after she changed her plea to guilty on charges of claiming on three occasions in 2012 to be a royally appointed Khunying.