The Rayong Provincial Court has sentenced a man to out-of-prison detention and a fine for slapping a nurse who rejected his request to let his daughter visit her ailing grandmother in hospital.
According to a source, the court imposed the sentence on Wednesday on a 46-year-old man identified only as Sanpong, who was a worker at an industrial estate.
The incident occurred at Rayong Hospital on the night of Feb 16, when the man asked a nurse to allow his young daughter to visit her grandmother, who was being treated in the ICU for influenza. The nurse reportedly warned him that a visit could put the girl at risk of infection.
The man then slapped the nurse twice on the face, an act that was captured on a hospital security camera.
The man told the court that he had lost his temper because of the way the nurse had spoken to him. However, he admitted assaulting a government official on duty.
Because he confessed, the court halved his jail term from three months to one month and 15 days, which he would be allowed to serve outside of prison. He was also ordered to pay 77,273 baht in compensation to the nurse.
The man placed 60,000 baht in cash to back his bail request and plans to appeal.