STREET WISE
Adultery cost: Bt200 million
The lawsuit against Pemmika Veerachatraksit for having an affair with a married man could wind up being one of the most expensive cases.
Pemmika - who admits to having been close to Dr Prakitpao Thomthitchong for years - is facing the threat of a Bt200-million lawsuit from the doctor's wife, Alisa, for allegedly conducting an extramarital affair with her husband. The controversy first erupted when Pemmika, 24, lodged a complaint with police on February 20, alleging that Prakitpao was forced to receive mental treatment at Srithanya Hospital, despite being perfectly sane. After her complaint, police petitioned the court and the case immediately attracted huge media attention. The twist of fate came after the Criminal Court decided not to order the release of Prakitpao from the mental institution - a ruling in favour of Prakitpao's family. Now Pemmika has been slapped with a lawsuit. The claimed damage fee is considered astronomical compared with another recent high-profile extramarital-affair case involving actress/model Carla Polasith. A plaintiff recently filed a lawsuit against Carla accusing her of having an affair with her husband and demanding damages of Bt20 million. The court encouraged both sides to settle the case out of court. Pemmika is facing a lawsuit with a damage fee 10 times higher. Some legal experts took the realistic view that the fee demanded was far too steep, considering the precedent of extramarital-affair cases. These cases generally end up with a damage fee of only Bt50,000, or at most Bt100,000. Pemmika was said already to have taken more than Bt20 million from Prakitpao, who has been suffering from a mental disorder. His wife, Alisa, now has an edge in her case against Pemmika after the court's ruling yesterday. The real victim of the saga, however, is Prakitpao, who does not have the capacity to take a case to court to defend himself. Prakitpao has also lost the right to keep his identity secret. Normally, mental institutions keep the names of their patients confidential, so they can more easily blend back into society after they have recovered and been discharged from hospital. But Prakitpao's admission to the mental hospital is certainly no secret after this high-profile drama.
jeerawat@nationgroup.com
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