Judge shoots self in court after being forced to change verdict

[zhorik]

A statement believed to have been written by the judge and posted to Facebook before he shot himself stated that he had been pressured to find the men guilty despite lack of evidence. The statement read

 

"At this moment, other fellow judges in Courts of First Instance across the country are being treated the same way as I was," he wrote.

"[If] I cannot keep my oath of office, I'd rather die than live without honour."45 

His live broadcast on facebook  just before he shot himself said.

 

"You need clear and credible evidence to punish someone. So if you're not sure, don't punish them," he said.

"I'm not saying that the five defendants didn't commit the crimes, they might have done so," he added.

"But the judicial process needs to be transparent and credible... punishing the wrong people makes them scapegoats.

The men were  5 Muslims accused of murder and firearm offences. Rights groups have alleged that security forces trump up charges against Muslim suspects in the Malay-Muslim majority region.  source BBC news.

still does not account for why he never named who put pressure on him.

[DaRoadrunner]

On 10/5/2019 at 1:44 PM, phetpeter said:

If true, he should state the name of the person who initiated he change the verdict, so the person can tell everybody why he has done it. Not just state 'someone'

If he told them who was behind it he would likely get his head blown off. There have been many cases where a Judge or a Lawyer was paid to turn a blind eye or lose a case, but I never heard of something so serious that the Judge felt the need to shoot himself. Sheeeeeeeeeeeit, what is this country coming to! If it turns out the perpetrator is someone high up it could bring down the Government.

[Pique Dard]

if i got it right his suicide attempt failed, what is next?

[gk10002000]

Obviously he didn't consider filing a police report against whoever was pressuring him before shooting himself.  But changing the verdict from acquittal to condemned is a heavy change

[Stocky]

On 10/5/2019 at 1:49 PM, michael888 said:

Will the case of the five men be re opened now?

 

On 10/5/2019 at 2:26 PM, Tchooptip said:

 "despite the lack of sufficient evidence to convict any of them" 

The judge believed there was not enough evidence but at last three of them were condemned to the death penalty.
One can understand that the judge was upset and more could feel guilty for not having had the courage or the strength to refuse such an injustice.  
 

He didn't change his verdict but acquitted the five defendants. There's a full report in the newspaper we dare not mention.

 

On 10/5/2019 at 4:18 PM, Donaldo said:

He should have followed his conscience and handed out the appropriate verdict. If that wasn't the one he was expected to give he would be dead soon enough. No need for him to lay hand himself. 

He did follow his conscience.

 

On 10/5/2019 at 5:23 PM, kidneyw said:

Strange that "not guilty" verdicts were ordered to be changed to guilty verdicts. It is usually the other way around here. I guess someone has a major grudge against the defendants.

These were five local Muslims accused of murder, illegal association and gun-related offences. This is Yala, southern Thailand.

 

On 10/6/2019 at 9:53 AM, VocalNeal said:

Which would have meant that the case would be still open and the police would have to start looking for the right criminals.

As the five were acquitted then the case is still open.

[Huckenfell]

On 10/5/2019 at 1:49 PM, michael888 said:

Will the case of the five men be re opened now?

Possibly with a really 'crooked' judge who does not need to be ordered. Just the brown paper envelope will suffice.

[Huckenfell]

On 10/5/2019 at 3:00 PM, rkidlad said:

And I wonder just how many times judges here have been told what the verdict should be. 

Sounds a bit like the Death Island (Koh Tao) verdict

[Huckenfell]

On 10/5/2019 at 5:00 PM, Yinn said:

 

 

 

 

 

Thai news say....

He was pressure from another (older) judge. The old judge wrote him secret letter told him to change his decision.

so he ask why? Why not use the system. Secret letter for what?

 

I would have made a sworn statement to be opened if anything happened to him, showing all the facts and names. And let this be known to all, so that any thought of killing him would be neutralised.

[Huckenfell]

On 10/5/2019 at 4:38 PM, Parker2100 said:

If it were gangsters, wouldn't they want the verdicts to be Not Guilty?

 

The fact that they wanted guilty verdicts, suggests that pressure came from Government.

Does anybody know what Nationality the guilty persons were from.

[Huckenfell]

On 10/5/2019 at 5:45 PM, deecfc67 said:

Or, as in the infamous Koh Tao case with the two Burmese lads, it could be that by securing convictions against some "patsy's", the real guilty parties get off with whatever they are charged with (assuming that the many rumours about that case are correct of course).

O course the rumours are correct.

[Huckenfell]

On 10/5/2019 at 6:19 PM, Burma Bill said:

Quote:-

"condemning three of them to death and sending another two to prison, despite the lack of sufficient evidence to convict any of them"

How about the two Burmese lads on "death row"?

Yes, another case of evidence being ignored and the guilty walking free. People seem to forget in this case that the initial investigator quickly found the murders, but shortly after was sacked and a new investigator came in to find others guilty, and the known murderers walked free with the tag "Rich" tacked to their names.

 

[Huckenfell]

On 10/6/2019 at 4:17 AM, Catoni said:

   The online acronym finder found Teacher in Training, and Time In Transit and a bunch more... but I don't think your T.I.T. means any of them. 

    What does your acronym T.I.T. mean? 

"This Is Thailand"  it has been around since Adam was a boy. Which country do you live in ?

[Stocky]

21 minutes ago, Huckenfell said:

Does anybody know what Nationality the guilty persons were from.

The accused were local Thais, but as they were acquitted they're not guilty.

 

 

.

Edited October 8, 2019 by Stocky

[lvr181]

On 10/6/2019 at 5:28 PM, zhorik said:

the reporting does not make sense. He was pressurised to change a NOT guilty verdict and   to  condemi three to a death sentence?

what i also do not understand is if he was committing suicide why not name the people putting pressure on him. What had he to lose?  I can understand gangsters wanting a guilty verdict changed but only the Police or Prosecution surely  would  want a verdict of not guilty changed. Anyway this is not the UK so how can a verdict of NOt guilty be changed.

Read Post #80.

[Huckenfell]

On 10/6/2019 at 3:01 PM, zhorik said:

A statement believed to have been written by the judge and posted to Facebook before he shot himself stated that he had been pressured to find the men guilty despite lack of evidence. The statement read

 

"At this moment, other fellow judges in Courts of First Instance across the country are being treated the same way as I was," he wrote.

"[If] I cannot keep my oath of office, I'd rather die than live without honour."45 

His live broadcast on facebook  just before he shot himself said.

 

"You need clear and credible evidence to punish someone. So if you're not sure, don't punish them," he said.

"I'm not saying that the five defendants didn't commit the crimes, they might have done so," he added.

"But the judicial process needs to be transparent and credible... punishing the wrong people makes them scapegoats.

The men were  5 Muslims accused of murder and firearm offences. Rights groups have alleged that security forces trump up charges against Muslim suspects in the Malay-Muslim majority region.  source BBC news.

still does not account for why he never named who put pressure on him.

I was pretty sure that they are'nt Thai Buddhist men. Because we all know as in the case of Death Island, that "No Thai would do such a thing" And we all know who made that statement !

[Huckenfell]

On 10/6/2019 at 3:27 PM, DaRoadrunner said:

If he told them who was behind it he would likely get his head blown off. There have been many cases where a Judge or a Lawyer was paid to turn a blind eye or lose a case, but I never heard of something so serious that the Judge felt the need to shoot himself. Sheeeeeeeeeeeit, what is this country coming to! If it turns out the perpetrator is someone high up it could bring down the Government.

Don't panic, it won't !

 

[Tomahawk21]

will he be prosecuted when he recovers??  ????

 

[Catoni]

On 10/8/2019 at 2:54 AM, Huckenfell said:

"This Is Thailand"  it has been around since Adam was a boy. Which country do you live in ?

Hey pal....it was really late at night and I was overtired, not to mention recovering from CABG x 4 and so on drugs. 

    Look up THAT acronym if you don’t know what it means. 

   But just to satisfy your curiosity, I’m Canadian and in Canada right now recovering from CABG x4, after which I will be returning to India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Cambodia. Live out the rest of my days in that part of the world, and then have a Buddhist funeral. 

     I’ve spent a bit more than four months in Thailand, mostly Chiang Mai and the mountains northwest of there on my first trip. 

     And on my second trip to Southeast Asia I spent two months in Cambodia, mostly in Siem Reap, followed by four days in Bangkok before returning to Canada. When I’m healed, I’ll be back in Asia. 

   

Edited October 9, 2019 by Catoni
Addition

[Javade joker]

As we all know the corruption in Thailand is like a desease and even the judge is feat up with it and could not find the cure for this corruption in justice department