A 32-year-old school teacher in Bangkok has been sentenced to 111 years in jail for grooming and sexually abusing an underage boy.
He has also been ordered to pay 1.5m baht (£34,700) in damages to the victim and 650,000 baht (£15,000) to his mother for the serious crimes he committed while teaching at a school in the Phitsanulok province in northern Thailand.
The man has been sentenced to 111 years for grooming and 18 years for sexually abusing the underage boy. Since the two terms run concurrently, he will serve the longer sentence of 111 years.
Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation said on Tuesday that the teacher, identified by only his first name Tee, was arrested on 24 June as part of its inquiry into a modelling agency in Pathum Thani, which was suspected of grooming and sexually abusing children.
The department determined that Tee had conspired with Danudet Saengkaew, 28, owner of the Nene Modelling Agency, to groom children.
According to the department, evidence indicated that the pair may have sexually abused over 1,000 victims.
Danudet admitted to the crime earlier this year after police discovered more than 500,000 images of child sexual abuse in his possession, The Nation Thailand reported.
He was convicted of nearly 60 offences and sentenced to 121 years and 223 months in prison on 11 February. Danudet was also ordered to pay 2.1m baht (£48,000) in compensation to eight victims identified by the Department of Special Investigation from the photos.
According to a Thai outlet, Thairath, Tee targeted male students. The boy he was found guilty of sexually assaulting was under 15 at the time.
Tee admitted to abusing children at various locations within the school, including restrooms and the audiovisual room, as well as in his car.
