The Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced Monta Yokrattanakan aka Ying Kai to seven years and six months in jail for lese majeste in claiming to be a royally appointed khunying (lady) and have a close connection to the palace.
Officials brought Monta, 61, from the Central Women Correctional Institution to the court on Tuesday for witness hearing.
Public prosecutors told the court that from May 2012 to August 2013 Monta had claimed on three occasions to be khunying and knew people in high places.
Police pressed the lese majeste charge against her on July 7 last year. She denied it.
Before the witness hearing on Tuesday, Monta told the court that she changed her mind and wanted to plead guilty in the case, so the court gave its ruling.
The confession prompted the court to commute the jail term for her three lese majeste offences from 15 years to seven years and six months.
Monta was also charged with human trafficking in two other cases.
In one, she was accused of luring three girls from Mae Hong Son and Pathum Thani provinces to do housework for her from June 2006 to October 2010 without pay and days off. She also threatened to ask police to arrest their parents unless they agreed to work for her.
In the other, Monta was accused of luring another teenage girl from Mae Hong Son to work as her maid under the same conditions from May 2008 to November 2010.
Earlier she said she had brought the teenagers so they could receive proper education. Witnesses were being examined in the two cases.
