A TOYOTA pickup truck, allegedly driven by former teacher Jomsap Saenmuangkhot in a 2005 fatal hit-and-run incident, was the focus of evidence at witness hearing sessions in a retrial that began yesterday at Nakhon Phanom Court.

New evidence included a truck inspection report by Totoya Motor Co, which confirmed that the truck was not involved in the crash, said Mongkolkit Suksintharanon, vice chairman of the centre taking complaints regarding cases allegedly involving scapegoats.

The centre was recently established by the Anti-Corruption Network Foundation.

The plaintiff intends to call nine witnesses. In addition to Jomsap, they include Prapat Saenmuangkhot who allegedly bought her truck on the day of the crash and collected it the next day and Thaksin Saisida, whose barbed-wire fence was hit by Jomsap’s truck prior to the truck being sold.

A Justice Ministry official who led the fact-checking team for Jomsap’s retrial also gave evidence, as well as an expert from King Mongkut University of Technology Thonburi who testified about the licence plate on Jomsap’s truck.

Sriprai Thongpol, an expert from Toyota Motor Co Ltd, is scheduled to testify about the results of a probe of the truck’s front section, Land Transport Department official Decha Nuchanart will give evidence about the truck’s licence plate, and two eyewitnesses, Thassanee Hanpayak and Thongres Wongsricha, who claim a man was driving the pickup truck with a licence plate “Bor Khor 56” are also scheduled to appear in court.

While the prosecutor objected to old evidence, including the truck that had been inspected in 2005, the plaintiff argued that the recent inspection by Jomsap’s camp was done using new technology that would clarify what had happened over a decade ago.

Jomsap’s pickup truck was brought to the court building yesterday for the judge’s inspection, although he declined citing lack of expertise.

In her bid for a retrial, Jomsap testified that she wanted to prove she wasn’t involved in the fatal crash. She said her truck had a scratch on the left side after ramming into a barbed-wire fence and the truck was not repainted to conceal any crime.

Prapat said he picked up the truck the next morning and he did not notice any damage. He said he had not done any repairs to the truck since the 2005 purchase, except for a headlight change in January.

The sessions today and tomorrow will present the prosecution witnesses.

Jomsap was sentenced to three years and two months in jail for the death of Lua Phorbumrung in the hit-and-run incident. She served 18 months before being released by royal pardon in 2015.

Sap Wapi, who has confessed to driving the pickup truck involved in the incident, showed up at the courtroom for 10 minutes in the afternoon. He left in a car belonging to the Department of Special Investigation.

Justice Ministry deputy permanent secretary Pol Colonel Dusadee Arayawuth said earlier yesterday that Sap’s removal from the witness list was to avoid confusion, as the focus would be on the truck.

Dusadee said that Sap was not involved in the retrial case so it was pointless to prove whether or not he was the real driver who killed Lua.

Dusadee said that if Jomsap was exonerated, the next step would be for police to find the real driver in the 2005 crash before its statute of limitation expired.

As Jomsap showed up at the court yesterday morning, many supporters waited outside to give her encouragement, including People’s Network Against Corruption president Somkid Homnet who offered her flowers.

Somkid said his group also petitioned the Education Ministry to reinstate Jomsap as a public schoolteacher during the retrial and also urged the National Legislative Assembly to set up a standing committee to inspect the whole Thai justice procedure, especially the police, prosecutors and attorneys and courts.