Nakhon Phanom: Police will summon another five suspects in the case of former teacher Jomsap Saenmuangkhot, who served prison time over a fatal hit-and-run incident dating back 12 years and is suspected of later hiring a scapegoat to try and clear her name via a retrial that was recently rejected.
Eight suspects already face charges of colluding to fabricate evidence to back Ms Jomsap's retrial request. The investigation is now being expanded to cover friends and other witnesses, according to police in this northeastern province.
The five new suspects are suspected of being involved in "various stages of presenting false statements to authorities", according to a source working in the police investigation.
Pol Maj Gen Suvicharn Yankittikul, chief of Nakhon Phanom police, said the five suspects are: Watsana Phetthong, one of Ms Jomsap's relatives; Thanat Suktalotpi, her lawyer; Rotchana Jantharat, her friend; Sa-ne Suphan, a close friend; and Thongres Wongsricha, Ms Jomsap's former lawyer.
Ms Thongres previously met police after she claimed to have witnessed the road accident, in which a pickup truck hit a bicycle, killing elderly Lua Pobamrung in Nakhon Phanom in March 2005.
The suspect was said to be riding pillion on a motorcycle driven by Thassanee Hanphayak, who testified she saw a man, not Ms Jomsap, get out of the truck after the accident.
Ms Thassanee is among the first group of eight suspects in the case, along with Ms Jomsap, her husband Niran, a director of Dan Muang Kham Health Promoting Hospital in Sakon Nakhon, and her close friend Suriya Nualcharoen.
Mr Suriya, a former school director in Mukdahan, admitted to police last weekend that he hired Sap Wapee to lie and claim he was driving the pickup truck when the accident occurred.
Last month, the Supreme Court dismissed Ms Jomsap's petition for a retrial, citing a lack of new evidence.
