Nakhon Phanom Provincial Court has granted bail to another suspect accused of being part of a scapegoat-for-hire scam involving former teacher Jomsap Saenmuangkhot.
Thongres Wongsricha, 52, who testified in court in the ex-teacher's favour, was released temporarily on bail worth 100,000 baht on Friday as police are gathering evidence to strengthen their case.
She is among eight people who have been charged for their role in an alleged scam to clear Ms Jomsap's name via a retrial which was rejected by the Supreme Court for a lack of evidence.
The others include Ms Jomsap, her husband Niran, a director of Dan Muang Kham Health Promoting Hospital in Sakon Nakhon, and her close friend Suriya Nualcharoen.
The suspects are accused of colluding to fabricate evidence to back the retrial request of Ms Jomsap, who served prison time over a fatal hit-and-run incident and was suspected of later hiring a scapegoat to cover herself.
Ms Thongres had testified in court that she witnessed the road accident in which a pickup truck hit a bicycle, killing elderly Lua Pobamrung in Nakhon Phanom in March 2005.
She told the court that she saw the driver get out of the truck to check on the victim and the driver was a man.
The investigation against Ms Jomsap and the others was prompted by the court ruling which said it suspected there was a network that hired out people to confess to crimes they did not commit in exchange for payment.
