Drunk-driving actress reports for social service

Anna Hamblaouris turns herself in at the Prawet police station in Bangkok on June 26, 2015, after crashing her Mercedes into a parked police car, killing the police inspector inside it. (File photos by Kosol Nakachol)

Former actress Anna Hamblaouris, who was convicted of drunken driving causing death two years ago, reported to the Probation Department on Thursday to begin community service with the Poh Teck Tung Foundation for again driving under the influence and crashing in May this year.

The 30-year-old, who is of Thai-British descent and also known as Anna Reese, reported to the department in Laksi district to acknowledge the conditions of her probation on the drink driving charge.

The Bangkok North Municipal Court sentenced her to two months in jail, suspended for three years, a fine of 20,000 baht, suspended her driving licence for two years and placed her on a year's probation.

She was met by director-general Narat Sawetnant, who said Ms Hamblaouris had previously been involved in a fatal car crash while driving under the influence in 2015 and had been sentenced to one-year in prison, suspended for two years, fined 10,000 baht and ordered to report to probation officials.

She had obeyed the terms of her probation, but only a month after it expired she been caught drink-driving again, Pol Col Narat said.

She was ordered to report to probation officials four times and perform 36 hours of social service.

"The problem results from getting drunk. Although the court does not prohibit her from drinking or visiting an entertainment venue during her probation, she should know what she can and cannot do.

"I asked her to live a careful life, because she already has a record," the deputy director-general of the Probation Department said.

Ms Hamblaouris said she would ask the Poh Teck Tung Foundation to decide what she would do for her community service.

She had learned her lesson about uncontrolled drinking, which had affected her image and her work.

She promised to drink only where she could control herself.

"From now on I must be more careful because this is the second mistake. Probation will restrict me. I admit that I still drink sometimes, but I do it at home so that I can sleep well. I do not go out to drink anymore," Ms Hamblaouris said.

In the early morning of May 23 this year she was arrested and then prosecuted for being drunk and extremely agitated, damaging property at a pub and driving her BMW Z4 car into a parked vehicle in Huai Khwang district.

On June 26, 2015, after leaving a hard-drinking party in Bangkok she crashed her Mercedes-Benz E200 into the back of a parked police car, killing a 45-year-old Suphan Buri police inspector who was taking a nap in the back seat. The slain officer had a wife and two children.

The smashed police car in June 2015