In Jomsap case, police have the most to prove
We need proof the jailed teacher killed that cyclist, not unseemly attempts to discredit her claim of innocence
A former teacher has claimed she was the innocent scapegoat in a case that saw her jailed for a year and a half for reckless driving causing death. But the investigating police officer and his superiors have stood by the evidence that convicted her originally and which is now to be tested again before the court.
Jomsap Saenmuangkhot, 54, who lost her teaching job due to her conviction, claims a man named Sap Wapi has admitted responsibility for the 2005 hit-and-run that left an elderly cyclist dead. The Justice Ministry, citing fresh evidence in the case including Sap’s alleged confession, has now secured a trial date for it to be weighed.
The police remain confident in their original charge, with the lead investigator and several of his supervisors publicly suggesting that Jomsap is not telling the truth. Inspector-General Pol General Panya Mamen said the officers involved had been thorough and the attempt to reopen the matter is suspicious – possibly involving the presentation of false information or evidence that’s been illegally obtained, with the aim of securing a “false confession-for-hire”.
In making counterclaims of their own, the police force comes up against the long-standing and widespread public perception that it is plagued with corruption. The force has a poor reputation in most people’s eyes, since officers of all ranks are so often accused of turning a blind eye to illegal activity and helping offenders evade prosecution in exchange for bribes. For the force to regain public trust, actual punishment for errant policemen, rather than duty transfers, would be a good way to start.
It is no real surprise that senior police figures would rally in mutual support to belittle the allegations of the former teacher: They don’t want their reputation tainted any further. And they do seem confident that their evidence shows Jamsap was no scapegoat. Just the same, in a recent Nation TV survey, most respondents said they believed her more than the police.
If she is telling the truth, the case will be another example of serious flaws in our justice system. Jomsap would certainly not be the first, nor the last, victim of injustice of this nature. In fact her case, should it prove to be an instance of false conviction, might well be merely the tip of the iceberg.
At this point, of course, it remains unclear who has been telling the truth. But the Jomsap affair has gained such widespread publicity that those charged with determining the truth will have nowhere to hide. The public is keen to find out what actually happened on the highway, in the police station and in the court system.
Thailand should no longer be seeing past mistakes repeated. Easily recalled is another high-profile case stemming from the 1986 murder of Sherry Ann Duncan, in which four men were wrongly imprisoned for a crime they didn’t commit. All but one of them died while serving lengthy jail terms. Justice Ministry deputy permanent secretary Dusadee Arayawuth was quite right in saying recently that the jailing of innocent people hurts society doubly since it allows the real culprit walk free. As well, law-abiding citizens are left with the fear that they too might become scapegoats in crimes they didn’t commit.
With a retrial ordered in the Jomsap case, all parties should be focused on marshalling their evidence and testimony convincingly, rather than attempting to discredit the other side through the media. It should be for the court alone now to assess the arguments presented and determine such crucial factors as whether the driver was a man or woman and what colour the vehicle was.
