Thai ex-monk convicted of raping a minor

BANGKOK: Thailand’s infamous “jet-set monk” was convicted of raping an underage girl on Wednesday, a court oficial said, in a case that has rocked an already scandal-mired Buddhist clergy.

Wiraphon Sukphon, 39, earned his evocative moniker after footage emerged of him wearing designer sunglasses with a Louis Vuitton bag on a private jet.

He was extradited back to Thailand from the US last year, accused of the rape and duping donors who had given him money to build what he said would be the world’s largest emerald image of Buddha.

The girl was under the age of 15 and Wiraphon is said to have later fathered a child with her.

In Wednesday’s ruling, which found him guilty of rape and separating the girl from her parents, the court said he had given the Buddhist faith a “bad reputation”.

“He used his monkhood, which Thai people respect,” the court oficial told AFP.

Wiraphon’s 16-year custodial sentence punishment will be added to the 20-year prison term he received in August after being found guilty of multiple counts of fraud.

Thailand is mostly Buddhist and the religion is woven into everyday life, but drug, sex and inancial scandals have weighed on the Buddhist leadership and forced some high-proile collisions with law enforcement.