Widow vows justice over son’s murder

Voices shock husband plunged to his death

The widow of the man who plunged to his death following the lower court’s dismissal of their son’s murder case yesterday pledged to fight to the end to secure justice for her son.

Rewadee Thalahasunthon, wife of Supachai Thalahasunthon, insisted she would appeal and if she lost, she would bring the case to the Supreme Court.

She also delivered her thanks to Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Charnthep Sesawech for revisiting the case and instructing officials to compile further evidence in order to look for any gaps in the investigation.

Pol Lt Gen Charnthep pledged on Monday that he would look into the case after learning of the death of Ms Rewadee’s husband.

The widow claimed police handling the case earlier told the family to gather evidence themselves, forcing her husband to resign from work and pursue justice for his son.

Witnesses also failed to identify the suspects because they were afraid of the defendants’ families who are influential local figures, she said.

Supachai, a co-plaintiff in the case, plunged to his death from the 8th floor of the Criminal Court building in Bangkok on Monday.

The father took his own life after hearing the Court of First Instance’s decision to dismiss his criminal suit filed against the suspects in the murder case, in which his son was stabbed to death during the Songkran festival on April 15, 2016.

Ms Rewadee burst into tears, saying she had never thought her husband would have committed suicide as he was in a good mood and believed the suspects would be convicted before travelling to the court.

Yet, after the ruling, he told her he was going to the toilet but instead jumped to his death.

Ms Rewadee also collected her husband’s body from the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Police General Hospital yesterday. His funeral rite will be held at Wat Kunnatri ru t th ar ami nHuaiK wang district.

In response to public criticism over the police investigation, Kritsana Pattanacharoen, deputy spokesman of the Royal Thai Police, yesterday asserted the probe was watertight.

“This can be proved by the prosecutors’ decision to indict the suspects and bring the case to court,” he said.

However, the court acquitted the defendants because a key eyewitness was being treated for mental illness in a hospital and failed to testify, he added.

Also, other evidence was weak while CCTV footage did not feature the incident itself, only passersby at the mouth of an alley where the murder occurred, Pol Col Kritsana said.

Phithak Obsuwan, director-general of the Office of the Attorney-General’s Department of Criminal Litigation, insisted that prosecutors would submit an appeal within 30 days.

In the meantime, Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon gave his assurance that the police would redouble their efforts to catch and convict the culprits.

National police chief Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda also insisted officers would face punitive measures if they failed to conduct the probe thoroughly.