Executed Man Guilty – But Other Suspect Still At Large: Police

[webfact]

Executed Man Guilty – But Other Suspect Still At Large: Police

By Jintamas Saksornchai, Staff Reporter

 

Amnesty Thailand stages a protest Tuesday at Bang Kwang Central Prison one day after Teerasak Longji was executed there.

 

TRANG — A local police investigator Friday downplayed the significance of new claims that an inmate executed earlier this week did not murder a high school student six years ago but acknowledged another perpetrator is still on the run.

 

After the first execution in nine years sent shockwaves and drew criticism from rights groups here and abroad, police responded to doubts cast on the efficiency of their investigation by insisting witnesses and evidence irrefutably tied 26-year-old Teerasak Longji to the 2012 crime in Trang province, although they have yet to investigate the new claim.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/2018/06/22/executed-man-guilty-but-other-suspect-still-at-large-police/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2018-06-22

[DM07]

..."beyond a reasonable doubt..." and all that...

[darksidedog]

Well that will be a huge blow for the death sentence here if it turns out that they have executed someone who didn't do the crime, and who it seems, never confessed to it. I wish I could say I had confidence in the cops to conduct a proper investigation, but I do not. The Koh Tao fiasco showed how utterly inept they are.

[maximillian]

12 minutes ago, DM07 said:

..."beyond a reasonable doubt..." and all that...

 

Why does it make me think of Novitchok and the Skripal case ?

[flyingtlger]

Guilty until proven innocent....

[Cadbury]

15 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

Well that will be a huge blow for the death sentence here if it turns out that they have executed someone who didn't do the crime, and who it seems, never confessed to it. I wish I could say I had confidence in the cops to conduct a proper investigation, but I do not. The Koh Tao fiasco showed how utterly inept they are.

Agreed, the way the Koh Tao case was played out was a total disgrace.

No one should ever try and come between the police and a bagful of baht. Justice is just pushed to the side while they fill their pockets. 

[ThreeEyedRaven]

With the cops admitting they are still looking for a second perpetrator, executing someone who could have been a key witness in that trial, if it ever happens, may have been a tad premature. You would also think that to break the moratorium on the death penalty here, they would have chosen a case that was absolutely cut and dried, which it sounds this one might not be.

[DM07]

38 minutes ago, ThreeEyedRaven said:

With the cops admitting they are still looking for a second perpetrator, executing someone who could have been a key witness in that trial, if it ever happens, may have been a tad premature. You would also think that to break the moratorium on the death penalty here, they would have chosen a case that was absolutely cut and dried, which it sounds this one might not be.

You mean, the cops probably fumbled this case, in killing a valuable witness?

Surely, you must be mistaken... ?

[mark131v]

Ah, sounds like there is a potential other perp out there, can't help wondering if he wears a green or brown suit or is a good  person...

 

Quite sad to have these thoughts every time the powers that be and the buffoons in brown are mentioned but unfortunately they prove positive virtually all the time and after all dead men tell no tales...

 

Rip to the murder victim and hopefully they got it right for once but I wont hold my breath on it....

[bluesofa]

1 hour ago, Cadbury said:

Agreed, the way the Koh Tao case was played out was a total disgrace.

No one should ever try and come between the police and a bagful of baht. Justice is just pushed to the side while they fill their pockets. 

Who was it who said, 'Thai justice, the best money can buy'?

 

[rooster59]

Police revive hunt for accomplice in murder of teen after execution of convict

By KANITA SEETONG 
THE NATION

 

 

POLICE HAVE revived an investigation into the 2012 fatal robbery of a 17-year-old boy, whose killer was executed earlier this week, in a bid to track down the killer’s alleged accomplice.

 

Police said the move was in response to a request from the victim’s parents, not because of rumours on social media that suggested the executed convict might have been a scapegoat. 

 

“The part about the convict receiving the death penalty is already final,” Muang Trang Police Station deputy superintendent Pol Lt-Colonel Prasert Songsaeng said yesterday. “But now we are going to try to arrest his alleged accomplice.”

 

Six years ago, Danudej Sukmark was fatally stabbed 24 times in a robbery at a public park in Trang province. 

Thirasak, whose surname has been withheld at the request of the Corrections Department, was convicted for the crime and sentenced to death. 

 

Following the execution of Thirasak, Danudej’s parents petitioned Trang’s police chief Pol Maj-General Sompong Thongbai to go after Thirasak’s alleged accomplice. 

 

According to witnesses, Thirasak arrived at the park with another man. The two sped off together after killing Danudej and taking his valuables. 

 

Prasert said yesterday that police had interviewed Danudej’s parents and some other witnesses related to the case. 

 

‘Love triangle’ possibility

 

“In the past, the investigation had focused only on the robbery. However, new information also points to the possibility of a love triangle,” Prasert said. 

 

Danudej’s girlfriend was with him in the park on the day of the killing and she testified against Thirasak. 

 

After Thirasak’s execution became big news, someone posted a comment on the Internet saying he had witnessed the stabbing and saw clearly that Thirasak was not involved in the murder.

 

 

“A big, dark-skinned man stabbed the victim while a smaller man locked the victim from behind,” this man said in the comment. 

 

He said he did not know the two attackers but knew Thirasak, who also witnessed the stabbing, and shouted at him to flee the spot. 

 

“Thirasak wasn’t my friend. But we knew each other because we lived in the same tambon,” this man said.

 

He said he did not speak up earlier because he was never summoned as a witness and also he had never imagined that Thirasak would end up being executed. 

 

“I can tell you that the knife used in the killing was much bigger than what police said they found in Thirasak’s possession,” he said. 

 

The spokesman for the Lawyers Council of Thailand, Major Sombat Wongkamhaeng, said if this self-claimed witness came forward, it would be possible to start a new trial in this case. “If this witness really has never testified before, it’s possible to request the court of first instance to start the trial anew,” he said. 

 

According to him, even though Thirasak was already executed his family would at the very least receive remedial action if it was proved in court that he was a scapegoat. 

 

The execution of Thirasak has generated heated debate in Thai society. While online surveys show most Thais support the death penalty, many have fiercely insisted that capital punishment should never be used. 

 

Panomwan Ramna, who lost her 11-year-old daughter in 2014, said she could never understand why some people would want to protect convicts from capital punishment.

 

Her daughter was sexually violated and killed, before her body was stuffed inside a water pipe.

 

“Her attacker was so brutal. I can’t believe that such a person would be able to reform himself,” she said. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30348418

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-23

 

[Samui Bodoh]

4 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

The spokesman for the Lawyers Council of Thailand, Major Sombat Wongkamhaeng, said if this self-claimed witness came forward, it would be possible to start a new trial in this case. “If this witness really has never testified before, it’s possible to request the court of first instance to start the trial anew,” he said. 

 

According to him, even though Thirasak was already executed his family would at the very least receive remedial action if it was proved in court that he was a scapegoat. 

What remedial action is there after he has been executed?

 

I maintain that this case is simply a prelude to another case where the state wants to use the death penalty, but needs a few cases/examples under its belt to demonstrate that this is "normal" in Thailand.

 

And the only future case that I can think of which meets the "controversial" threshold is the Koh Tao travesty.

 

Anyone know when a final verdict is due? I know that it is (relatively) soon. Anyone?

 

[dinsdale]

Where are all the death penalty supporters on this post. If they've executed an innocent man, (not the first and won't be the last) then all you posters who said this was a good thing should hold your heads in shame.

[Anak Nakal]

If have other suspect, why kill him?

Death penalty bad!

[thaiguzzi]

Where have all the "string him up, hang 'em high" brigade gone?

The silence is deafening...

I'm not against the death penalty per se, but, especially in a tin pot country with a justice system like here, EVERYTHING has to be 100 per and tightly locked down right. Otherwise....

[Yann55]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Panomwan Ramna, who lost her 11-year-old daughter in 2014, said she could never understand why some people would want to protect convicts from capital punishment.

 

Her daughter was sexually violated and killed, before her body was stuffed inside a water pipe.

 

“Her attacker was so brutal. I can’t believe that such a person would be able to reform himself,” she said. 

 

Ms Panomwan...  the pain you must be enduring after such a horrible experience is hard for anyone to fathom. But you need to realize that your pain is being instrumentalized by people who support the death penalty, here.

 

There are arguments for and against the death penalty, it is no easy issue and I'm convinced that every honest and conscionable human being finds it hard, when poring over this question, to come up with a clear-cut, obvious, and definite answer.

 

Personally I chose to be against the death penalty a long time ago mainly for three reasons :

 

1/ I believe that a society which claims to be civilized cannot and must not inflict death to murderers because by doing so, it somehow stoops to their level, and chooses revenge over justice.

 

2/ Justice systems are not infallible, and that's putting it very nicely. In some countries, the degree of fallibility of the justice system is in fact so high (and for all kinds of reasons) that the chances of killing an innocent person become overwhelming. Your daughter was innocent, Ms Panomwan, so you are well placed to understand what that implies. You say "why do people want to protect convicts from capital punishment", but the people you are referring too are not trying to protect convicts, they are - first and foremost - trying to protect innocent people from being executed. The equation convict = guilty is a very lethal one. Ask the two Burmese convicts from Koh Tao what they think about this.

 

3/ People who are not innocent can be punished, and life imprisonment without parole is the greatest punishment I can think of. If, while a convict is serving such a sentence, some new witness or evidence turns up that proves him to be innocent, then he can be released after a new trial. Releasing people from a cemetery, on the other hand, is not an option.

 

 

Edited June 23, 2018 by Yann55

[sweatalot]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

police responded to doubts cast on the efficiency of their investigation by insisting witnesses and evidence irrefutably tied 26-year-old Teerasak Longji to the 2012 crime in Trang province, although they have yet to investigate the new claim.

little bit late. Isn't it?

[hansnl]

19 hours ago, DM07 said:

You mean, the cops probably fumbled this case, in killing a valuable witness?

Surely, you must be mistaken... 

Of course it might just be possible the one they are still looking for might be, ehhh, important like.

[Khun Paul]

Now they look 6 (SIX ) YEARS later, are they really police or Jim Hensons Muppets, one has to question their intelligence . 

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, Khun Paul said:

Now they look 6 (SIX ) YEARS later, are they really police or Jim Hensons Muppets, one has to question their intelligence . 

Police. Those muppets had half a brain.

 

[hansnl]

2 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Where have all the "string him up, hang 'em high" brigade gone?

The silence is deafening...

I'm not against the death penalty per se, but, especially in a tin pot country with a justice system like here, EVERYTHING has to be 100 per and tightly locked down right. Otherwise....

Even judges can make mistakes, and they do.

Repairing a juidicial mistake on a executed person is a farce.

Albert Pierrepoint, executor of 400+, once told he thought around 20-30 of those were innocent.

[robblok]

2 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Where have all the "string him up, hang 'em high" brigade gone?

The silence is deafening...

I'm not against the death penalty per se, but, especially in a tin pot country with a justice system like here, EVERYTHING has to be 100 per and tightly locked down right. Otherwise....

Yea but if they can't even do that in the US (there have been people executed who were not guilty) what chance has Thailand got.

 

Like you I am not against it 100%. Lets say someone is captured on CCTV with clear images ect. Then yes I could be pro death penalty. But like you say it has to be 100% sure and that is real hard to accomplish in most cases.

[rott]

49 minutes ago, hansnl said:

Even judges can make mistakes, and they do.

Repairing a juidicial mistake on a executed person is a farce.

Albert Pierrepoint, executor of 400+, once told he thought around 20-30 of those were innocent.

The 20-30 is interesting, where is he quoted as saying.that.?

[stephenterry]

7 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

snip:

And the only future case that I can think of which meets the "controversial" threshold is the Koh Tao travesty.

 

Anyone know when a final verdict is due? I know that it is (relatively) soon. Anyone?

 

The last I heard several months ago, was that the Supreme court (who has received the defence appeal documents) was awaiting appeal documents from the prosecution (after granting several deferments) before deciding whether to ACCEPT the appeal, let alone adjudicating on it. As at this week Andy Hall has not provided any update which indicates nothing has progressed, and I would also like to know the current situation - if different. 

[HHTel]

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

“The part about the convict receiving the death penalty is already final,” Muang Trang Police Station deputy superintendent Pol Lt-Colonel Prasert Songsaeng said yesterday.

He's clever stating the bleeding obvious!

[Jingjock]

On ‎6‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 9:19 AM, thaiguzzi said:

Where have all the "string him up, hang 'em high" brigade gone?

The silence is deafening...

I'm not against the death penalty per se, but, especially in a tin pot country with a justice system like here, EVERYTHING has to be 100 per and tightly locked down right. Otherwise....

My answer to that is "hang em high" if proven 100% guilty, otherwise use other options available like prison, however I have no faith at all on police investigations here in Thai