Laddarat Thummalee confessed to the charge, pressed against her by the Marketing Development Co, and pleaded for sympathy and also donations to repay a huge debt her parents had in order to get money for her treatment.

Case investigator Pol Major Sanchai Phisaiphan said he personally sympathised with Laddarat but had no choice but to proceed with the case as demanded by the firm. The officer said he had suggested Laddarat prepare all the documents proving she had breast cancer to show to the court in the coming trial so she could ask for leniency.

The company accused Laddarat, 23, of stealing products worth Bt65,838 and lodged a complaint against her with Muang Nakhon Ratchasima police shortly after it was discovered the foods in Laddarat's custody had disappeared last December.

Laddarat said she had started taking the company's products secretly after her room was broken into and around Bt20,000 of the company's revenue that she and her friend were supposed to return had been stolen. Each jar of food she stole cost around Bt1,300.

"I took the products because the label said they could cure cancer" she said.

Before the burglary, Laddarat said, she bought drugs and products from other companies with her own money and money her parents had lent her after she was diagnosed with breast cancer early this year.

Laddarat said she could produce the documents proving the diagnosis, issued by the National Cancer Institute of Thailand, which had treated her from the beginning.