Police tracked down the 25-year-old mother of the baby, Aphaporn Kerdtruat, from CCTV footage of her motorbike after she was caught red-handed stealing the cash. She told investigating police she needed it to feed her year-old infant.
An unemployed hairdresser was arrested on Wednesday in Khon Kaen by police at a rented room in the city for the theft of ฿1,000 on Sunday after she went out to find milk for her baby and found a wallet with cash on a nearby motorcycle.
A 25-year-old mother’s maternal instincts led her to commit a crime in Khon Kaen on Sunday after she went out to buy milk for her year-old infant.
Aphaporn Kerdtruat was arrest by Ban Ped police in the Muang district at her rented room in the centre of the province on Wednesday and admitted to the theft of ฿1,000 from a wallet on a motorbike near the shop where she had stopped.
An unemployed hairdresser with ฿120 in her purse
Ms Aphaporn is an unemployed hairdresser. She told officers that she had only ฿120 left when she pulled up at the retail outlet on her motorbike with her child.
The theft of the ฿1,000 was reported by another woman from whose motorbike the desperate mother removed a wallet.
The young mother accused of the crime told police on Wednesday that she then took the ฿1,000 in cash inside the wallet and discarded it in a nearby trash bin.
Owner of the wallet and cash reported the theft to local police on Sunday after leaving it on a motorbike
Unfortunately for Ms Aphaporn, the woman who owned the other motorbike later reported the matter to the police.
They were not long in identifying her from very clear CCTV footage which captured the registration details of her motorbike.
It also showed her clearly stealing the wallet.
Police brought the woman back to the scene outside tye shop to reenact the crime after her arrest
Details of the case were given by Police Lieutenant Colonel Theethach Pongsuwan, the Deputy Chief of Bang Ped police station, on Wednesday.
Police brought the woman back to the scene of the crime after her arrest on the same day which is a standard investigative procedure in Thailand.
Charged with theft of the wallet and cash
Ms Aphaporn has been charged with the theft of the wallet and the cash although under Thai law prosecutors have some discretion in such matters depending on the position of the complainant and whether restitution has been made in respect of the crime.
Further reading:
Thai woman caught stealing $4 worth of makeup at 7/11 after husband left her for a prettier lover
Unemployed US Thai man arrested by Pattaya police for 7 Eleven armed robbery in Banglamung last week
