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| Andrew Drummond - already convicted and facing five new criminal trials in 2015. |
A former British journalist who now runs a blog from Bangkok faced two court hearings in two separate criminal cases in Thailand today.
Andrew Drummond, 63, a convicted criminal who was convicted of criminal defamation and sentenced to four months jail (suspended for one year) in February 2014 in Pattaya Provincial Court faced Court this morning on the Thai island of Koh Samui in case number 1246/2556 brought by David Hanks, and also was forced to post a bail bond in Pattaya Court in case number 1327/2557 in the afternoon.
Drummond is now on bail in two cases in Pattaya, numbers 8369/2556 and 1327/2557 and was this morning ordered to surrender to Koh Samui Court on 13th November 2014 at 0900hrs to post bail in three other cases, numbers 1246/2556, 1269/2556 and 1826/2556 brought by David Hanks and Brian Goudie respectively.
Following all three cases brought by Hanks and Goudie in Koh Samui being accepted, Drummond must now surrender to the Court and pay a bail bond, as well as potentially being forced to surrender his passport, as the number of accepted charges in Samui under Thailand's tough Computer Crimes Act now stands at 14 separate charges, with a number of lesser charges of defamation also accepted for trial.
The Court today noted in the record that no further adjournments will be granted, and if Drummond fails to appear on November 13th arrest warrants will be issued.
Goudie and Hanks are said to intend to object to Drummond being released on bail, other than with tough conditions such as a higher than normal bail bond, clear confirmation of a residential address, travel restrictions and surrender of passport, as they say Drummond now faces at least five criminal trials next year in cases that have already been accepted and is a clear flight risk.
It is said that Drummond will almost certainly face the prospect of a custodial sentence as the number of charges now accepted would leave the prospect of any sentence being suspended being extremely remote.
Plaintiffs are now expected to oppose bail in every case citing the many cases already accepted for trial, coupled with the fact that Drummond is a convicted criminal alleged to now be committing offences while on a suspended sentence - and amid allegations he continues to commit similar offences despite the suspended sentence and being on bail pending trial.
It is understood that Drummond in another case, number 8369/2556, filed by Drew Noyes in Pattaya Provincial Court, will face an application to have his bail revoked or varied since circumstances have changed with the acceptance of four new cases since bail was granted.
At least two other new criminal cases are already filed against Drummond awaiting preliminary hearing, bringing the total number of pending cases to at least seven, and further cases are expected to now be filed in Pattaya and Samui later this month.
Can we have an update on this one, please. What was the sentence, is Drummond in jail ?
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