Mourning the 2nd Anniversary of the Passing of the “Last Scapegoat in Sherry Ann Case”
12 October 2014
Flashing back 28 years ago, the “Sherry Ann Case” was so popular that it was made into romantic, tragedy movie, and it was also the “scapegoat” legend and a shameful lesson of Thai police, as well as the attempt to create new norms for the justice system.
Mr. Krasare Ployklum, the last scapegoat in the Sherry Ann case, is one of the 5 innocent people who were accused of murdering case of Sherry Ann Duncan and a victim of the erroneous justice system who became a “scapegoat”. He created new norms for the justice system and made a change to the laws and treatments on Thai suspects.
On 25th July 25 1986, "Sherry Ann Duncan", a 16-year-old Thai-American girl, was tempted to take a taxi in front of her school and murdered in Sam Bang Samran Woods in Bangpoomai Sub-district, Samutprakarn Province. The incident became of great interest for the media and the public, but the case did not progress.
Until 21st August 1986, the police held a press conference announcing that they could arrest a gang of five people. The 1st defendant is Mr. Winai Chaipanich, the instigator, and the 2nd – 5th defendants who are conspirators are Mr. Roongchalerm Kanokchawanchai, Mr. Pitak Kakai, Mr. Krasare Ployklum and Mr. Thawat Kitprayoon.
Regarding this case, only Mr. WInai was released because the court dismissed the lawsuit, while Mr. Krasare and his fellows had been pleading for several years. The court of first instance sentenced the capital punishment, and later the court of appeal dismissed the judgment but ordered the defendants to be detained while awaiting the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the defendants were innocent, and they were release in March 1993.However, during imprisonment, Mr. Roongchalerm was struck by his congenital disease due to his weakening physical and mental health and sadness and finally died. Mr. Pitak caught a disease in prison and died shortly after the case was dismissed Mr. Thawat survived in the perfect condition but lost many opportunities in life. He finally died of cancer in November 1999.
As for Mr. Krasare, he became handicapped from spine fracture as a result of being beaten. He had to go to hospital to receive medication every month and later died of heart failure on 12th October 2012. He was tortured to confess with several means by the police until it became a scar on his mind. “I am scared every time I see a police officer. I am scared of being tortured in jail again.”
“When I was arrested, I didn’t confess. I was beaten up by so many police officers that I couldn’t remember. There were plainclothes policemen, but I don’t know who they were. They kick me in the chest. I flipped over and hit my head on a table. I was kicked in the back one more time. My head knocked on the flood. I was beaten so badly that my spine fractured. I have a persistent backache and always have to get medication. I can’t lie on my back because it’ll get numb. I have to lie on my side when I sleep. I can’t walk for a long time because my feet will get numb. My brain is numb, and so are my nerves. I think slowly because I hit my head on a table. I went to the doctor at a clinic and he X-rayed me. When the court of first instance was about to deliver the judgement, I had no money to go through the operation. After the court ruled, I went straight to Paknam Prison. When I got out, I had no idea where the X-ray film was. I requested for painkillers when in jail, and my mother sent me oil to apply…,” said Krasare in the press interview. He can remember what happened in the past vividly, even though he does not want to.
Torture is human rights violation and degradation of human dignity which is prohibited under any circumstances, whether under normal conditions or war conditions. Torture is wrong, and there can be no reason to justify torture at all.
Amnesty International Thailand, our activists and people are demanding the parliament amend the criminal law to comply with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment as follows:
1. Criminalize torture
2. Determine investigation and punishment for offenders according to the international standards
3. Determine remedy measures for victims and their family legally, physically, mentally and socially
Additional Information from the Internet
Mr. Krasare said after getting out of the prison that, “…Before I went to jail, I had a family: a wife in Klong Toey Pier, one son and one daughter. When I got into jail, my wife died of depression, and later my daughter was raped and murdered at the age around17-18. No one told me that my daughter was killed, and I didn’t know because people lied that my daughter won a scholarship to study in Japan. Had I as the father been outside, I would have been albe to take care of her so that she wouldn’t have been dead. Later, my son has gone missing…”
Mr. Krasare began to tell his story in slowly, "In 1986, Miss Sherry Ann Duncan was killed. The Pak Nam police came to arrest me, Mr. Winai Chaipanich, Roongchalerm Kanokchawanchai, Pitak Thawat and accused us of killing Miss Sherry Ann, but we didn’t do that. We told the police but no one believed us and the journalists were manipulating the story. The Pak Nam policed officers named Pol.Col. Mongkol Sripho and Pol.Col. Santi Pengsut took Mr. Pramern Potpan to identify the murders by looking at the photos provided by the police before receiving 500 Baht. He identified us as the men who brought Sherry Ann down from Mr. Winai’s condominium. After that, the prosecutor filed a lawsuit against us. We four were sentenced the capital punishment by the court, but Mr. Winai was dismissed. We were sent to the death row in Bang Kwang Prison. Until 1992, the court of appeal dismissed the case, but Roongchalerm died in prison before the judgement because he was depressed as he didn’t commit any offense. His children were still young. When the court of appealed ruled, my previous boss from the security company bailed me out, and Pitak and Thawat were still stuck in Bang Kwang because they were awaiting the judgement from the Supreme Court. But they didn’t make it out because they died of a disease caught in the prison. I don’t remember what year they died. When I was arrested by the police, I knocked my head on a table. I was numb and my nerves got slow, so I think slowly.”
The suspect was beaten and his brain went numb.
“When I was arrested, I didn’t confess. I was beaten up by many police officers - so many that I couldn’t remember. I was beaten until my spine fractured. I went to the doctor at a clinic and he X-rayed me. When the court of first instance was about to deliver the judgement, I had no money to go through the operation. After the court ruled, I went straight to Paknam Prison. According to my spine facture, my brain got slower. I can figure things out but slowly because I am dizzy. While I was beaten up, I hit my head on the floor. In the past, Pak Nam Police Station was built of woods and the chairs were wooden. When I was kicked, I flipped over and hit my head on a table. Currently, when I walk fast, the back of my leg gets numb. I can’t lie on my back; I have to lie on my side. I requested for painkillers when in jail, and my mother sent me oil to apply.”
Being Imprisoned Despite No Guilt
“When Mr. Winai was dismissed, we were sentenced death penalty. Mr. Winai rushed to the Crime Suppression Division. Now that the Crime Suppression Division know we were innocent, they followed up the case quietly, tracked down the real offenders and reported to Pak Nam Police Station that we were innocent and that they were tracking down the real offenders. But the Pak Nam police didn’t believe it and allowed the court and the Attorney General to proceed further. They wouldn’t let us go despite know that we were innocent. No one helped or fought for us in jail. We were only praying to survive because we didn’t commit any offense. We were in jail, but we didn’t know that the Crime Suppression Division was trying to help us. When they arrested the bad guys, we survived. The court dismissed our case before prosecuting the real offenders. After the court dismissed our case, no one lent us a hand. We were the people who hadn’t done anything wrong and were sentenced to death, how could we go on mentally? Like Howdy (Mr. Roongchalerm Kanokchawanchai), he fainted right there, and the rest of us burst out crying before fainting. We didn’t do anything wrong and were sentenced to death, so how would you feel about it? When the court ruled, we had to go to jail.”
The suspect lost his wife, his daughter was raped and murdered and his son had gone missing.
“Before I went to jail, I had a family: a wife in Klong Toey Pier, one son and one daughter. When I got into jail, my wife died of depression, and later my daughter was raped and murdered at the age around17-18. No one told me that my daughter was killed, and I didn’t know because people lied that my daughter won a scholarship to study in Japan. Had I as the father been outside, I would have been albe to take care of her so that she wouldn’t have been dead. Later, my son has gone missing.”
The police department was sued for 25 million Baht.
“At that time, the media reported our story nationwide. All newspaper agencies and TV channels reported our story, but they didn’t when the court dismissed the case (gesturing that the news is short). So how can the people know we’re innocent? They still think we’re murderers because they don’t know that the court dismissed our case. When I got out, there was 1 lawyer who helped me plead and sue the police, but we didn’t have money. The court ruled that those police officers were not involved and told us to sue the police department. Now, we are suing the police department claiming for damage. When I was arrested, I lost my reputation and people hated me for being a murder. We are claiming for 10 million baht for the news agencies that reported our story and another 5 million baht for physically abusing me and making my brain damaged. I used to work as a security guard earning 3,300 baht monthly. For 21 months, it amounts to 96,300 baht. And I lost my freedom being imprisoned; I was chained 24 hours. I rarely ate in jail, and there were all types of prisoners in the death row. They weren’t afraid of one another. Some lost their mind, and some were insane. I had to stand living there – so suffering. For this, I’m claiming for 10 million baht. Let this matter rest upon the court’s decision.”
"The lawyer did not say when the case would end. I went to court, and the prosecutor kept postponing and the Ratchada Court kept postponing. I went there on 3rd April at 9:00 am. I didn’t hope to win and get that 25 million baht; it was up to the court. I only received 1 million and a half, which was enough to repay my debt. When my mother visited me in the prison, she was living in Ayutthaya and had to borrow money to come and visit me. Nowadays, I am selling aquarium fish and fighting fish, and I am a house security guard or do whatever they hire me to do because I can’t make ends meet.”
For the Scapegoats in the Death Row.
“Being in jail, it is hard to tell whether we can get out or not. We cannot think that we might get out. When we think that we will die, it is kind of strange. It feels like despair – what we feel when we are about to die, because we don’t know that the Crime Suppression Division was fighting for us. No one delivered us news. When we went to the court, there were a lot of police officers coming despite us being innocent. We were manacled by 2 chained and handcuffed, and we almost couldn’t walk. They did us so wrong. At the end of the day, they said they were just doing their job according to the evidence. They could get away with it. It might be my karma – the karma that they created for us. Those police officers arrested us and created karma for us, putting many lives and their family in trouble. There were all types of people in the death row. Some didn’t commit any crime but were kept there. Some were pleading. I got to talk to some guys and they were innocent. The police liked to close the case quickly. I'm sure there are people who haven’t done anything wrong in the death row, but we don’t know how they end up there. My case was popular, but then it went silent without anyone being responsible. For some people with the case similar to mine, if the evidence is firm, they’ll have to be executed despite doing nothing wrong. I want to call on Thailand to implement a law to pay compensation to those innocent people being jailed. The court would have known that another scapegoat was there. I saw the news on TV; they caught a scapegoat for robbing the gold shop. That guy must have thought it was his bad karma. Once arrested, you don’t say who arrested you. I can remember everyone who is now in big positions, but I’d better not say their name because they’ll send people to get me."
