The Central Juvenile and Family Court has temporarily released a 17-year-old girl who robbed a gold shop with a knife on Sunday.
The director of her school submitted 15,000 baht as a bond for her release.
On Sunday afternoon, the girl, a native of Roi Et province, entered the Big C hypermarket’s Rattanathibet branch in Nonthaburi province. She wore a cap, gloves and a face mask.
After entering the Rattanathibet 2 branch of the Yaowarat Krungthep gold chain there, she pulled out a kitchen knife and gave a piece of paper and a black bag to Kulpanisa Dabut, 21, the manager of the shop, who was at the counter at the time.
The note read: “Put money and gold in a bag. Don’t shout. Your life is yours. There’s no need to kill”.
Ms Panisa did as she was told and put necklaces and rings on display in the bag. The ornaments — 13.75 baht-weight (208.4 grammes) in total — were worth 400,000 baht.
She handed the bag to her, but as the girl was running out of the shop, Ms Kulpanisa shouted for help.
A policeman on patrol at the mall who happened to walk in the opposite direction managed to grab her.
The girl later told police that she put some money in an online investment website after seeing an advertisement on Instagram.
Encouraged by a hefty return initially, she put the 50,000-baht life insurance payout from her father's death in it. She soon discovered it was a scam when she could not contact the website.
When her mother, who had Covid-19 and was being treated in a province, started asking about the money, she did not know what else to do.
Boonruam, her grandmother whom she lives with while studying, told police the girl had stayed with her for three years.
In recent months, she has been learning online at home and has never told her about her trouble. On Sunday, her granddaughter told her she would go to see a dentist.
According to Section 339 of the Criminal Code, robbery is punishable by imprisonment of 5-10 years and a fine of 10,000- 20,000 baht. The penalty is waived for those aged not more than 15 and halved for those aged 15-18. If the punishment is more than three years, it can be suspended.
Cybercrime investigators are also looking into the case to take legal action against the scammers.
