Court hands death to former village chief
Kalasin official guilty of killing teen student
KALASIN: The Kalasin provincial court yesterday handed the death sentence to a village headman after finding him guilty of attempting to rape and fatally assaulting an 18-year-old female student in December 2015.
The court also ordered Krittidech Rawengwan, 35, headman of Ban Si Than in Kamalasai district, pay more than 2.3 million baht, plus interest, in compensation to the family of his victim Ruadeewan Polprasit.
The Polprasit family let out a cry of delight when t he sentence was handed down.
Both the victim’s mother, Lamyai Polprasit, and her older sister Phattharanit Polprasit, said justice had finally been been served.
They said they had experienced 464 days of pain waiting for the culprit to be brought to justice.
Krittidech’s lawyer, Wirach Pipornpong, said his client would appeal the sentence.
The court was told that Ruadeewan was bumped by Krittidech, who was on another motorcycle, while she was riding along Ban Si Than-Ban Non Muang road on her way home around 6.40pm on Dec 23, 2015.
Krittidech also kicked her motorcycle causing her to lose control of her bike and crash by the side of the road, the court was told.
He then dragged her into a rice field where he physically assaulted and tried to rape her.
The court was told Ruadeewan tried to fight off her attacker, resulting in Krittidech becoming more violent and repeatedly punching her before fleeing.
According to the autopsy report, Ruadeewan suffered a ruptured liver during the attack, which eventually killed her.
Several witnesses testified t hey saw Krittidech on a motorcycle following Ruadeewan through Ban Si Than in the direction where she was attacked.
Ruadeewan telephoned her parents asking them to pick her up from where the attack took place, telling them she had fought off her attacker, describing in detail some of the injuries she inflicted on him before he fled on his motorbike in the direction of Ban Si Than, the court heard.
Later, during a meeting of local officials discussing the manhunt for Ruadeewan’s attacker, someone spotted a bite mark on Krittidech’s right thumb, took some snapshots of it and then submitted the photos as evidence to police.
Krittidech immediately fell under suspicion and was required to undergo a physical check-up which found injuries consistent with the ones Ruadeewan had described before she died.
A forensic expert testifying at the trial said the bite on Krittidech’s thumb wasn’t caused by a rat as the defendant claimed but was clearly a bite caused by human teeth.
An inspection of a motorcycle with the Khor Khor Thor Kalasin 185 licence plate found hidden at the home of Krittidech’s parents bore scratches that matched ones found on the victim’s motorcycle.