Crime: The Children, Youth and Family Foundation has asked the Justice Ministry for witness protection for a 14-year-old victim allegedly raped by 15 men over a two-year period.
Protection eyed for rape-case victim
Foundation adviser, Ticha Na Nakorn filed the application yesterday after the victim was allegedly threatened by five of the rapists who had been granted bail.
The teenager was gang raped by 11 men from March 2021 to December 2022, after which another four men took part until this January, Ms Ticha said.
She said the leader was a policeman, while the others were his junior officers.
The Loei Provincial Court granted bail to five of the purported rapists, including the alleged gang leader, while six others were being detained. However, the four other suspects have absconded or gone missing.
Ms Ticha said the families and friends of the suspects have been threatening the victim. They protested with police and accused the victim of lying.
DCC wants holiday Covid boosters
Health: The Department of Disease Control (DDC) is encouraging people to get a booster jab before the Songkran festival now that a bivalent mRNA Covid-19 vaccine has arrived in Thailand.
DDC director-general, Tares Krassanairawiwong, said the vaccine was donated by South Korea, and 501,120 doses were distributed to hospitals and medical centres nationwide.
Dr Tares said that both monovalent and bivalent vaccines are equally effective for a booster. However, bivalent vaccines are preferred for patients with underlying conditions and medical workers.
When asked about the safety of mRNA vaccines, Dr Tares said they have passed all trial phases, and reports from around the world indicate that they can prevent deaths.
He also said a second batch of the bivalent vaccine of one million doses donated by the French government would arrive on March 13.
Cops still fret over kit shortage
anti-torture law: Police have reiterated their concern about having a shortage of equipment needed for implementing the law against torture and enforced disappearances if it comes into effect too soon.
National police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas said yesterday the police were short of recording equipment necessary to investigate such cases.
The shortage was cited as the main reason why an executive decree was issued in parliament, postponing the law’s enforcement.
However, a group of 100 MPs who opposed the delay lodged a petition seeking a judicial review of the decree with the Constitutional Court.
Pol Gen Damrongsak said if the decree was ruled unconstitutional, the torture law would come into effect, leaving no time for the Royal Thai Police to prepare. Investigators would make do by borrowing equipment from other units, such as the traffic police, he said.
Two killed, 8 hurt in truck crash
KANCHANABURI: Two illegal migrants from Myanmar were killed and eight injured when the pickup truck they were travelling in overturned after a tyre burst on a road in Muang district yesterday. The driver and about 10 other migrants fled the scene.
The incident happened on Highway 323 in tambon Wang Dong at about 4am, said Pol Capt Krit Sitthisorn, deputy investigation chief at Lat Ya station.
Police and rescue workers found a damaged Mitsubishi Strada G-Wagon with Nakhon Sawan licence plates.
One woman was crushed to death in the wreck, while a boy was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.