Sherry Ann Duncan, a sixteen-year-old half-Thai/American student, was abducted after leaving her school in Bangkok on 22 July 1986. Her body was found a few days later in wetlands in Samut Prakan Province. The case became a sensational crime story in Thailand.
In the initial investigation, four men were arrested and eventually convicted of her murder, receiving death sentences in 1990. However, later re-investigations by the Crime Suppression Division uncovered evidence that a key witness had given false testimony and that the four men had been coerced into making confessions under duress. The Supreme Court overturned their convictions in 1995. By the time of the acquittal, the wrongful prosecution had already caused severe harm: one of the wrongly accused men had died in prison, another sustained permanent spinal injuries from beatings by police intended to coerce a confession, and a third died of tuberculosis shortly after his release.
Following the exoneration, two other men were arrested and convicted for the murder. These men implicated Suwiboon Patpongpanit, the daughter of Udom Patpongpanit, described as Thailand's red light district czar, alleging she had hired them to commit the crime. Suwiboon Patpongpanit was convicted by the Court of First Instance, but the Supreme Court acquitted her in 1999, citing insufficient evidence.
Police Colonel Mongkol Sripho, who had led the original investigation, was retroactively dishonourably discharged for fabricating evidence. By the time this action was taken, he had already retired and emigrated to the United States, and he was not brought to face criminal charges over the fabricated evidence.
In 2003, the Civil Court awarded 26 million baht in damages to the wrongly convicted men and/or their descendants, in recognition of the harm caused by their false imprisonment. The case has since been frequently cited in Thailand as an example of police corruption and broader problems within the country's justice system. It was later adapted into a film titled Sherry Ann, directed by Charoon Wattanasin and produced by Five Star Production in 2001.
Credit: Thairath newspaperPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListen
