User:Clumsily/Phai Ngoen Temple foetuses scandal

Phai Ngoen Temple foetuses scandal was an event in Thailand's capital Bangkok when the police discovered the remains of more than 2,000 foetuses concealed in Phai Ngoen Chottanaram Temple's mortuary on

Persons and places concerned

 * Phai Ngoen Chottanaram Temple ("the Temple") — a Buddhist temple located on Thanon Chan, Soi 42, Yeak 22, Khwaeng Bang Khlo, Khet Bang Kho Laem, Bangkok, Thailand.
 * Taling Chan Provincial Court ("the Court") — The provincial court having jurisdiction over the venue.
 * Wat Phraya Krai Police Station ("the Police Station") — The police station having jurisdiction over the venue.
 * Bandit Sitthinamsuwan ("Sitthinamsuwan") — Director of Khet Bang Kho Laem.
 * Police Colonel Methi Rakphan ("Pol Col Rakphan") — Chief of the Police Station.
 * Police Colonel Sombat Milinthachinda ("Pol Col Milinthachinda") — Chief Inquiry Official of the Police Station.
 * Police Lieutenant Colonel Dilok Ruennet ("Pol Lt Col Ruennet") — Crime Suppression Inspector of the Police Station.
 * Police Captain Khwanchai Paenmontha ("Pol Capt Paenmontha") — Crime Suppression Deputy Inspector of the Police Station.
 * Police Lieutenant Thananuwat Sitthichai ("Pol Lt Sitthichai") — Inquiry official of the Police Station.
 * Suthep Chabangbon ("Chabangbon") — Mortician-in-chief of the Temple, aged 46.
 * Suchin Phumi ("Phumi") — Assistant mortician of the Temple, aged 38.
 * Lanchakon Chanthamanat ("Chanthamanat") — Unlawful aborter, aged 33.

Initial discovery of foetuses
On November 16, 2010, 13:30 hours (Bangkok Time), the inhabitants around the Temple informed Pol Lt Sitthichai that they were disturbed by a terrible smell from the Temple for two or three days and requested the police to inspect the site. When the inspection team, consisting of: Sitthinamsuwan, Pol Col Rakphan, Pol Col Milinthachinda, Pol Lt Col Ruennet, and Chulalongkorn Hospital medical officers, arrived at the Temple, they found that a intensely fetid smell was diffuse from the Temple's mortuary being a two-floor building, each of which is divided into twenty chambers used for storing the dead bodies awaiting cremation. In the seventeenth chamber at the lower floor, which was found unlocked as the others, the team discovered more than one hundred red and blue plastic bags enveloped with newspapers which were source of a putrid smell like that of decaying corpses. After conveying them one by one to the open space nearby and having them opened, the police initially found the remains of more than one hundred foetuses, both male and female, which were decaying. While some bags contained parts of bodily organs of infants, some bore baby skulls and some comprised of freshly crushed bones and fleshes. More than fifty bloody sanitary napkins were also found in some bags. The total number of the foetuses found is three hundred forty eight.

Chabangbon, mortician-in-chief of the Temple, gave statement to Pol Lt Col Ruennet that "...The Temple's mortuary is usually filled with dead bodies waiting to be cremated which are deposited with us by the deceased's relatives. Each of the chambers will be locked by me...I have seen the seventeenth chamber since I was a child, and I was sure that it was locked but I don't know and don't care who broke it...Late in this morning, the inhabitants told me that a dog ran out of the Temple and held in its mouth a bag of dead baby..." Although the Colonel did not believe Chabangbon, and said that further inquiry of Phumi, assistant mortician who is also in charge of the mortuary, will be held. He also suspected that the foetuses would be the consequences of unlawful abortions plentiful in Bangkok, even having been suppressed day in day out. This was in line with the inhabitants' statements that they "...believed that the Temple's officials must have been the parties to this offence, as the mortuary is located in out-of-sight area and no one has been bold enough to set his foot there."

Inquiry and confession of two morticians
On November 17, 2010, 16:00 hours (Bangkok Time), Chabangbon and Phumi were summonsed to the Police Station for inquiry. After a questioning, the two admitted the guilt and eventually were under arrest.

Chabangbon gave answers and confession that: He and Phumi are acquainted with Chanthamanat, unlawful aborter, for six years through her mother. As from the first meeting, Chanthamanat and her mother frequently conveyed the dead bodies of aborted infants from Thon Buri area to the Temple and asked him and Phumi to destroy the bodies. Each time, about one to four bodies were delivered. Each body brought each of them two to four hundred baht, being three thousand to three thousand and five hundred bath in total for a month. He and Phumi gathered the corpses received in the ninth chamber of the mortuary and left them there until they dried up and burnt them. As the foetuses increased time by time, the tenth and seventeenth chambers were opened and used, until their secret business came to light. But, Chanthamanat's mother went out of this business one year before.

Chabangbon and Phumi insisted that the monks did not involve in and were not aware of the business, for no one usually came to, even got close, the mortuary. The two also refused that they do not know where Chanthamanat's unlawful clinic is.

Discovery of thousands of more foetuses
On the same day, 18:00 hours, Pol Capt Paenmontha led the force to the Temple to inspect the ninth and tenth chambers of the mortuary according to the answers of Chabangbon. In his note of inspection, the Captain recorded that "...Both chambers are locked. It seems as if a great amount of something were compacted in them. I pulled away the oxidised master key of one chamber, it was then falled down to the ground..." He had the chamber opened and discovered the "targets" which were discribed: "thousands of jammed plastic bags containing something like remains of infants ". He then reported his superior in order to have the Forensic Police and Chulalongkorn Hospital medical officers examining the bags in detail.

Arrest and search
On that very day, 18:30 hours, the Court directed the warrants of search and arrest against Chanthamanat after she was implicated by Chabangbon and Phumi. Pol Col Milinthachinda, Pol Lt Col Ruennet and Pol Capt Paenmontha, who enforced the warrants, led the force to search a commercial building located on Thanon Phetchakasem, Khwaeng Nong Khang Phlu, Khet Nong Khaem, Bangkok, where Chanthamanat was found and arrested. In searching the third floor of the building in front of which a "Public Clinic" board was posted up, the police found that the floor was divided into several rooms by backcloths, some of which were freshly removed. The smell of disinfectant was everywhere, while bloodstains and various medical devices were found. The articles were seized to be used as exhibits and the blood samplers were collected for analysis.

During her inquiry at the Police Station, Chanthamanat confessed that: She has been an assistant nurse at a public hospital. She secretly provided abortion services at the building after being discharged from the hospital since, being more than ten years up to now then. Each abortion brought her three thousand to three hundred thousand bath, according to the period of conception. The most recently abortion was performed on November 11, 2010. The aborted infants would then be given to Chabangbon to be destroyed.

Law overview
Abortion is proscribed by the Criminal Code of Thailand, Division 2: Offences, Title 10: Offences against Life and Body, Chapter 3: Offences of Abortion. Any female who causes her own abortion or allows another person to cause her abortion is liable to imprisonment, or a fine or both. While any person who causes abortion of any female, whether at her request, with her consent or without her consent, is dealth with by the same. However, the performance of abortion does not constitute an offence if it is necessary by reason of the female's health or when the female conceives a child as a result of the commission of sexual offence.

Thai sources

 * Post Today.
 * (2010, 17 November).
 * 348 dead foetuses found in the heart of Bangkok. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * Former assistant physician arrested for carrying out illegal abortion clinic. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 18 November). Phai Ngoen Temple's officials arrested as having connived at abortion scandal. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 19 November).
 * More 1,654 foetuses found. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * Police not yet inquiring superstar alleged to have been caused abortion. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 20 November). Court granting provisional release to two Phai Ngoen Temple's workers. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 21 November).
 * Democrat to propose abortion law amendment. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * Grand merit-making ceremony in dedication to foetuses to be held on November 27. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * Police inquiring all involving foetuses scandal. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * Prime Minister struck by foetuses scandal. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * Thai social shock with illegal abortion scandal. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * Unlucky souls at Phai Ngoen Temple : unable to chose their mothers. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 23 November). Police magnifying outcome of abortion scandal. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * Thairath.
 * (2010, 16 November). Horrified story in the heart of Bangkok, thousands of foetuses discovered in Buddhist temple. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 17 November).
 * Charge to be preferred against two temple workers. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * Wat Phraya Thai illegal abortion clinics in authority's eye. [Online]. Available: . (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 18 November). Alas! Thousands of aborted foetuses found in City of Buddhism. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 19 November).
 * Children survived from abortin are doing well. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * More and more dead foetuses found in the same temple. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 21 November).
 * Judges in the wake of abortion law amendment. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * Mortuary to be demolished, grand merit-making to be held. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * People want abortion law amendment. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 22 November). Grand merit-making ceremony to be held in dedication to foetuses. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 24 November). Chinese monks herald death of foetuses. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).

English sources

 * Bangkok Post.
 * (2010, 19 November). Hundreds of foetuses found at temple. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 20 November). Temple sends off unborn souls. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 21 November). Current abortion laws 'good enough'. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 23 November).
 * Baby a blessing, says teen. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * Foetus case witness retracts accusation. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * BBC.
 * (2010, 16 November). Foetuses found in Thailand temple. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 19 November). Thailand police find 2,000 foetuses in temple. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * CNN.
 * (2010, 19 November). Police recover 2,002 illegally aborted fetuses in Thailand. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).
 * (2010, 23 November). Thai lawmaker proposes abortion law after fetuses found. [Online]. Available: <link>. (Accessed: 24 November 2010).