'Cinderella' ends in a dark 'fairy tale'

[Muthukali]

The saga of 'Mom Luk Pla', plucked from poverty and bedded before reaching the legal age of consent by an elderly prince she regarded as her father, took a turn recently as the Supreme Court reversed a ruling clearing her of his murder, bringing back to the fore a scandal that rocked a nation

Seventeen years ago it was almost impossible to turn on a television or pick up a newspaper without hearing the story of Little Fish and the elderly Frog Prince _ a lurid tale of love, lust and death behind palace walls that enthralled a nation unaccustomed to public scandal.

But when Mom Chalasai Yugala _ or more popularly, Mom Luk Pla _ was sentenced to four years and eight months' jail this month over the poisoning death of MC Thitiphan Yugala in 1995 there was nowhere near the same interest generated as when the scandal first came to light.

Now 42, and with a matronly figure befitting her years, Mom Luk Pla appeared resigned to her fate after a failed legal battle for her freedom straddling three decades came to a close in the Supreme Court on Aug 17. The court found her guilty of poisoning the prince's coffee with insecticide but ruled she had not intended to kill him, reversing an Appeals Court decision that had acquitted her of his death on Aug 29, 1995.

She was sentenced to seven years' jail, but had her term reduced by a third for confessing during a police interrogation.

Her defence team has indicated they will seek a royal pardon.

Mom Luk Pla was born in Ubon Ratchathani to an unknown mother and abandoned at Chulalongkorn Hospital. She was taken in by the prince's sister to become a servant and officially adopted by him when she was four or five.

But she claimed that when she was 12 she began having sexual relations with the man she regarded as her adoptive father, 34 years her senior, who she wed when she was 22. Not a traditional beauty, Mom Luk Pla was feted by the prince for her sexual prowess.

"I've met so many women in my life, but I never found anybody like Luk Pla," the Associated Press quoted the prince as telling a local newspaper.

"My wife need not be beautiful. Nor does she need to be a good cook. But she has to be great in bed. Luk Pla is my No 1 in this regard."

 

[Muthukali]

During one of her talkshow appearances at the time, Mom Luk Pla said she had considered the prince her father, saying she was treated better than other maids at Asawin Palace and given a secondary school education. However, she bemoaned the fact that she never had a childhood.

"I suddenly went from being a dek ying [little girl] to being a nang [Mrs]," she said. "I never had a chance to be a nangsao [Miss]."

She was also annoyed by magazines publishing details of her sex life with MC Thitiphan.

"Only some parts are true. Most of them are exaggerated. Some reports went too far, portraying our marriage as an X-rated movie. I'm not someone who is obsessed with sex, the way I've been portrayed," she protested.

But not all was well in the improbable marriage between the orphaned country girl and the prince. Mom Luk Pla was restless within the confines of the palace walls and looked for companionship and excitement outside with people her own age.

"Father always wanted me to be his 'doll'," she said. "He told me he didn't want me to associate too much with people outside the palace."

Despite being showered with luxuries by the prince after their marriage _ including a 3.7 million baht Ferrari and speedboat _ Mom Luk Pla had found love with Uthet Choopwa, a chestnut seller three years her junior, during her social excursions outside the gilded walls of the palace.

She escaped to her lover's arms prior to the body of the prince being found unconscious in the palace on Aug 21, 1995.

MC Thitiphan spent a week in Vichaiyut Hospital and died on Aug 29, aged 60.

Eight days after his death an autopsy found he had been poisoned and Mom Luk Pla, amid growing rumours of her affair with 19-year-old Mr Uthet, became the main suspect.

She was taken to Asawin Palace for a re-enactment in front of two of the prince's half brothers and two of his concubines, Mom Oonruan Thammasen and Mom Wasana Faikreu, and reportedly confessed to the murder following a lie detector test courtesy of the American Embassy.

Almost two years after the prince's death Mom Luk Pla was charged with first-degree murder after prosecutors said she had confessed to the charge after being arrested on July 17, 1997. She faced the prospect of the death penalty or life in prison if found guilty.

Mom Luk Pla, who had since married Mr Uthet, did not have enough money to secure bail but Democrat deputy leader Suthas Ngernmuen used his status as an MP to gain her release.

 

[Muthukali]

There was speculation that Mom Luk Pla had been paid 10 million baht to confess to the murder by a third party who did not want her to contest the will, which included the double inheritance of MC Thitiphan and his father Prince Bhanubhand. There was an expectation that once in court, she would recant her confession.

But in February, 2002 she was sentenced to six years' jail for causing harm and death to another person under article 290 of the Criminal Code. The Criminal Court accepted the defence argument she had not intended to kill the prince, only to send him to hospital so she could meet her lover.

The prosecution appealed against the ruling, demanding she be punished further on charges of premeditated murder.

But on March 4, 2005 the Appeals Court overturned the Criminal Court's sentence and acquitted Mom Luk Pla, citing a lack of eyewitnesses and only circumstantial evidence for her allegedly having poisoned her husband.

According to the verdict, the prosecution had failed to produce any eyewitnesses who had seen Mom Luk Pla put poison in the prince's coffee.

The witnesses who testified provided only circumstantial evidence and some were the prince's inheritance beneficiaries.

All the written and material evidence in the case was deemed to be suspicious.

The court said Mom Luk Pla had been allowed to see her lover both in and outside the palace with the full knowledge of the prince.

He had also bought her a 3.7 million baht car and given her 345,000 baht on Aug 19, 1995, which indicated there was no apparent motive for her to poison him shortly afterwards.

In addition, the prince earlier told his lawyer to amend his will to allow Mom Luk Pla, as his legal wife, and also his children born to Mom Oonruan and Mom Wasana, to be entitled to his inheritance.

This showed the prince's death would also have benefited other people besides Mom Luk Pla, the court said.

The court believed Mom Luk Pla unwillingly confessed to the murder charge as she was exhausted after being subjected to police questioning and a lie detector test for 18 consecutive hours.

A videotaped re-enactment of her alleged crime showed investigators demanding she point at several areas of the palace and even grasping her hands to make her point at whatever they wanted.

The court also said Mom Luk Pla had no need to alert the prince's relatives, call an ambulance to take the prince to hospital, wait at the palace after the incident, or visit him at the hospital if she had intended to kill him. It was also thought strange that Mom Oonruan had washed the prince's coffee cup one day after he became ill even though the cup was evidence and should have been given to police.

Mom Luk Pla said she was very happy to be cleared of the murder charge since she was innocent.

She refused to talk about the past or pass on a message to anyone at Asawin Palace, saying she did not want to look back although she and her Mr Uthet, then living in Pathum Thani, were having a hard time and were unemployed.

In making its decision earlier this month to send Mom Luk Pla to prison, the Supreme Court said the main point was whether she had placed the poison in the prince's coffee. It took into consideration her failed lie detector test and her confession under interrogation that she had done so to make him sick so she could later ask him in front of witnesses for a divorce.

However, the court ruled the prince's death could not have been premeditated as Mom Luk Pla did not use enough of the insecticide to kill him immediately.

Mom Luk Pla, who has two sons and has since remarried, is now in custody at Klong Prem women's prison, awaiting the results of a planned request for a royal pardon.