Chonsawat gets suspended jail term

The Criminal Court found Chonsawat and his two aides Sakul Pramoolchai and Pratya Chaiyakul guilty of assaulting a traffic officer from Makkasan police station at 2am on May 21 of last year.

They were also convicted for preventing Pol Sergeant Prarop Saengnil from carrying out his duty to test the bloodalcohol level of Chonsawat, now assistant secretary to the information and communications technology minister.

The court sentenced Chonsawat and Sakul to 12 months' imprisonment and a fine of Bt9,000 each, and Pratya to 10 months' jail and a Bt8,000 fine.

The court then suspended the jail terms on grounds that the three defendants had confessed, apologised to the victim and donated Bt100,000 to his police station to buy sports equipment.