I must disagree, Dick. Until it's paid for, it's not his. NZ is the same (but not so harsh)
If "intend to pay" is a valid excuse, then every shoplifter will be free to take what they want and have a ready excuse if caught.
Back in my uni days (poor students, as you would know) one of my mate's favourite tricks was to get a pottle of smoked mussels in Pak'n'Save, walk around munching them, then put the empty pottle on a shelf and walk out. The only risky time for him was the half second of disposing the empty container, because back then, munching on your shopping was not frowned upon and so lots of people did it.....but obviously shop owners caught on and it's unlawful to eat your stuff before paying for it now.
"Trying" a grape is worse because it hasn't been weighed, so you can not claim to be intending to pay for it. Imagine if everybody tried one or two grapes....the shop would lose hundreds of dollars.
BobR, I agree: "10 days on a mere allegation (especially for a minor or misdemeanor crime) is more than a little excessive, most countries can do it in 3 working days.
Unless the Thais involved in this were complete idiots, the police and store owner could have saved a lot of people problems by simply saying "pay for the damage and you can leave.""
Reminds me of an old guy caught with a hand of bananas under his coat. He was escorted to a back room to wait for police, and when they arrived and went in to the room, there were no bananas. No evidence. The guy had eaten them, skins and all