Extortion charges dropped in Bo Bae case
The Southern Bangkok Criminal Court yesterday acquitted a 58-year-old woman accused of extorting money from traders at Bo Bae market on the grounds that the plaintiffs' evidence was unclear and carried insufficient weight.
Clothes vendor Praderm Nangkud and his wife Ampai had filed an extortion lawsuit against Mian Jaemreun, who had reserved 30 stalls and then rented them out to vendors for Bt12,000 per month, the lawsuit said. After fights broke out in April 2005 over Bo Bae's commer- cial spaces, the authorities reorganised the vendors and prohibited anyone from charging rent. Praderm and Ampai immediately stopped paying rent to Mian. According to court filings, Mian and several accomplices told the couple to start paying fees in September 2005 or they would end their business, so the couple handed over Bt12,000. Mian started asking for more money, so the couple filed a complaint with police. In her defence, Mian said she had reserved the spaces since 2000 and had never extorted money from anyone. The court said that no threats had been made, nor had physical force been employed, and the defendant maintained her innocence all along. The court said the evidence did not carry enough weight to prove the defendant's guilt.
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