A member of the Phuket Public Prosecutor’s office confirmed yesterday that British national Danny Glass has been handed an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and fined THB15,000 for the death of his girlfriend following a motorbike accident on May 8 of last year.
It was confirmed that Glass’s sentence was handed down last Thursday, but that the case for the driver of the truck involved in the accident is still ongoing as he has denied the charge brought against him.
Phuket Public Prosecutor Boontob Lanthong said, “Glass admitted the charge of reckless driving causing death during his trial on Jan 25.”
Truck driver, Natthawut Kimsue, 30, from Phang Nga, is due to appear in court again in seven days.
Glass’s girlfriend, popular mommy vlogger Sophie Emma Rose Anderson, also a British national, was crushed to death under an 18-wheeled truck in central Phuket after Glass swerved to avoid a parked car.
Anderson was six months pregnant at the time of the accident.
Following the incident, tributes and expressions of condolences and grief poured online for Anderson.
On May 27 of last year, Glass presented himself at Thalang Police Station to be formally charged with reckless driving causing death. He originally denied the charge of reckless driving causing death and called for donations to help fund his legal defence.
“The police are trying to give me a charge of reckless driving, which I do not agree with whatsoever, because I was driving under the speed limit… I was driving in a straight line. I wasn’t doing anything illegal on the bike. So yeah, it is a wrong accusation that I have refused as of yesterday…” Glass explained on his YouTube channel in late May.
“It was an accident. It was not the driver’s fault that he ran her over, it was an accident on his side and on my side. No one is to blame. It was just one of those freak accidents that happen,” Glass said.
Just a few weeks ago, Glass said on his vlog, “I got advised by multiple people, including police that some of my friends knew, that I should just accept it rather than fight it because yeah I would just get a small penalty and then it could just be over and done with it I can move on my life because otherwise it could drag on even longer and I wanted to get it over and done with,” he said.
Glass also noted that with the trial now over he is looking to leave Thailand and go to Costa Rica or elsewhere in Asia. “It’s a new chapter in my life because now I haven’t got this huge thing hovering over my head,” he said.
Thalang Police Chief Col. Sompong Tiparpakun said that he had yet to confirm whether or not Glass would be able to leave Phuket, or Thailand, while still serving a suspended sentence.
However, Col. Sompong noted that reckless driving charges would not usually incur a “no fly” restriction.
Story: The Phuket News
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