‘Mor Nim’ acquitted, but mother gets life
The Appeal Court has acquitted Nitiwadee Pucharoenyos of masterminding the murder of her husband, a well-known member of the national shooting team, and handed down the death sentence to her mother instead.
The ruling was read out at Min Buri Court in Bangkok yesterday. The case involves the murder of sharpshooter Jakkrit Panichpatikum, 40, on Oct 19, 2013 after a row with his wife.
The Appeal Court overturned the lower court’s decisions and ruled that there was no evidence to prove that Dr Nitiwadee, 42, had hired anyone to kill Jakkrit.
Existing evidence pointed to her 76-yearold mother Surang Duangjinda as being the mastermind and this was consistent with Surang’s confession. The evidence showed Surang had a middleman ask lawyer Santi Thongsem to hire a gunman and a motorcyclist for 200,000 baht to kill Jakkrit, her son in-law.
The Appeal Court sentenced Surang to death and then commuted the penalty to life imprisonment as her testimony was considered useful.
The Appeal Court, however, upheld the first court’s rulings against the other defendants in the case. Lawyer Santi, 32, was sentenced to death. Gunman Jirasak Klinkhlai, 36, and motorcyclist Thawatchai Phetchote, 36, were given life imprisonment. The Appeal Court also ordered the four to pay 2.5 million baht in compensation to Jakkrit’s family.
The Appeal Court found Surang’s motive was that her only daughter had been beaten frequently by Jakkrit. Since her granddaughters — the couple’s two children — were also psychologically affected by the violence, she did not want him to reunite with her daughter.
While the ruling was being read, Dr Nitiwadee, better known as “Mor Nim”, cried but her mother remained calm.
The court later released Surang on bail of 1 million baht and prohibited her from leaving the country.
Speaking after leaving the courtroom yesterday, Boonkid Panichpatikum, Jakkrit’s mother, said she accepted the court’s ruling and may not take the case to the Supreme Court.
On Nov 12, 2013, Ms Surang claimed involvement in the murder when she and her daughter Dr Nitiwadee met Paveena Hongsakula, the then-social development
and human security minister. The meeting was held in the presence of Min Buri police.
Ms Paveena was known to have helped settle domestic disputes between Dr Nitiwadee and Jakkrit in the past.
Ms Surang said at the time that she ordered the killing because she wanted to protect her daughter. She said Jakkrit had physically abused Dr Nitiwadee during their six-year marriage. She said her daughter was not involved in the murder.
According to Ms Surang, Jakkrit had also threatened her daughter with a gun.
She also said Jakkrit’s attacks resulted in Dr Nitiwadee losing their third child through a miscarriage.