Parents of five boys, allegedly involved in the murder of a 47-year-old mentally-troubled woman in Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province on January 11^th, were escorted by district police to the Juvenile and Family Court this morning, to be charged with failing to provide proper parental care to their children, with the risk that they might commit criminal offences.

Yesterday, the parents were summoned to Aranyaprathet district police station to acknowledge the charges under Section 25 (3) of the Child Protection Act and Section 78 of the Criminal Code, which carry a maximum prison term of three months and/or a fine of 30,000 baht on conviction.

Police plan to file additional rape and assault charges against two of the five suspects after they received complaints from their prospective victims.

The dead woman, identified as “Buaphan”, was badly beaten, allegedly by the five boys, aged 13-16, after she threw a drinking water bottle at them late on the night of January 10^th, in front of a convenience store in the district. Her husband, Panya, was arrested by the police and he reportedly confessed to beating her to death. The charges were subsequently dropped after police found CCTV evidence implicating the five boys.

Evidence has also emerged implicating at least two police officers in the torturing of Panya to extract a confession.