‘Uncle Engineer’ given suspended prison term, community service over teenager killing

[webfact]

 

An engineer, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for murder by two lower courts, was given a suspended prison term and ordered to perform 30 hours of community service on Thursday by Thailand’s Supreme Court.

 

The fatal shooting, for which he was charged, occurred near the Ang Sila market, in Muang district of the eastern coastal province of Chon Buri, on February 4, 2017. Suthep Pochanasomboon used his pistol to shoot to death 17-year-old Nawaphol Poengpai, following a heated argument over double-parking, which had made it impossible for the older engineer to maneuver his car out of the tight space.

 

According to the court case file, Nawaphol and his friends refused to move his car. Both sides engaged in heated quarrel, but the group of youths eventually acquiesced and drove their van away.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/uncle-engineer-given-suspended-prison-term-community-service-over-teenager-killing/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-06-18

 

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[rcuthbert]

A reminder of "Don't f@#& with the Thais!"

RIP youngster.

[wendyfromoz]

community service for killing someone

[Tropicalevo]

This is very very sad.

This puts murder down at the lowly level of a misdemeanour.

'Boss' may as well return. He will not do gaol time if this is the standard.

Edited June 18, 2021 by Tropicalevo

[Thaiwrath]

21 minutes ago, webfact said:

was given a suspended prison term and ordered to perform 30 hours of community service

 

22 minutes ago, webfact said:

The fatal shooting,

Easy to see why the Thai justice system has very little credibility whatsoever, if any.

Disgraceful !

[J Town]

You just KNOW there were some brown envelopes exchanged.

[ikke1959]

At  least he did not violate section 112, because that is a crime which is much worse than murder... 

[holy cow cm]

Hey, but the firearm was probably registered so that is half the problem solved. And supposedly you can go to prison for a long long time for just having a little bit of drugs on you for personal use. But one problem is that Thai are way too hot headed and who knows what the engineer guy said and how he said it to make the kids po'd.

[lockyv7]

He should have never been charged, a van full of thugs that picked on the wrong man and his family. 

[Moonlover]

27 minutes ago, lockyv7 said:

He should have never been charged, a van full of thugs that picked on the wrong man and his family. 

I recall this incident very well. After the first altercation outside the convenience store, both parties drove off with the van ahead. When the van stopped again there was no need for the shooter to pull up and start the argument again. He could have just driven on and forgot about the incident.

 

By stopping and provoking the youths in the van, he created the volatile situation which lead to this shooting. In my opinion he was the  'agent Provocateur' and should doing jail time.

[riclag]

Unfortunately, you never get the whole story from eyewitness reports !

Looks like the guy was defending himself from further assault,  according to the PBS story !

 

"Known as the “Uncle Engineer” case, the incident became headline news and a hot topic on social media, drawing widespread and mixed reactions from netizens, with most sympathizing with the elderly man, who was being seen as the victim of bullying.

 

The court ruled that the shooter had merely defended himself against threats from the victim and his friends, who had assaulted him during their first encounter".

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by riclag

[khunPer]

2 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

This is very very sad.

This puts murder down at the lowly level of a misdemeanour.

'Boss' may as well return. He will not do gaol time if this is the standard.

"Self defense" was the court's verdict, could it perhaps also be self defense if you feel threatened when a police officer drives on motorbike in front of you...????

[BusyB]

Well at least he didn't go picking mushrooms after the deed ...

[Destiny1990]

That’s far from self defense where i am from..I recall his conversation with his wife was recorded they were looking to safe face meaning revenge! 

[worgeordie]

Surely just pointing the gun at the victim would have

been enough for him to back down....If not shot him

in the leg if you must, there seems no rhyme or reason

to some of the sentences people recieve here. 

 

If your rich and influential , you get off with it, poor

your going to jail .

regards worgeordie

[clivebaxter]

3 hours ago, wendyfromoz said:

community service for killing someone

Be fair, it is an enormous 30 hours!

[jippytum]

I remember when this case was first reported and thought the sentence very harsh . The accused was not expecting this verdict as he did not appear at the first court reading and forfeit his bail money.The second reading again absent at the court .Obviously a long prison term and he would have remained in hiding   like many other Thais. Safe to come out now .

[rwill]

No idea how this could be self defense if they had an altercation and then both drove off and then later he stopped them again.

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

An engineer, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for murder by two lower courts, was given a suspended prison term and ordered to perform 30 hours of community service on Thursday by Thailand’s Supreme Court

Life is cheap.

[Benmart]

Sad on so many fronts and some comments reveal a weakness of thought and an abudance verbal diarrhea.

[Scott Tracy]

Fantastic . And there are States in the US that execute murderers. Give them all a suspended prison term and community service of 30 hours. It would save a fortune on prisons. Who needs supermax, deathrow, expensive drugs, firing squads, electric chairs? Killing another person is obviously nothing to worry about in the Land of Smiles. 500 baht and a wai to the dead person's nearest and dearest. No wonder Boss is still out and about. His conviction, if there were to be one, would of a similar nature, one suspects.

Edited June 18, 2021 by Scott Tracy
Spelling correction

[pacovl46]

6 hours ago, Moonlover said:

I recall this incident very well. After the first altercation outside the convenience store, both parties drove off with the van ahead. When the van stopped again there was no need for the shooter to pull up and start the argument again. He could have just driven on and forgot about the incident.

 

By stopping and provoking the youths in the van, he created the volatile situation which lead to this shooting. In my opinion he was the  'agent Provocateur' and should doing jail time.

Exactly! Having said that, I’m pretty sure the whole thing could’ve been avoided if they had just moved their fricking van when he asked them to, but no, they just had to make a fuss because he was probably not very polite the first time around, which I can understand to some degree because it’s just common sense to not double park, and yes, I’m fully aware that this is Thailand, but one of them paid the ultimate price and for what? Playing the cool guy who doesn’t budge?

[rudi49jr]

7 hours ago, J Town said:

You just KNOW there were some brown envelopes exchanged.

My thoughts exactly! Big fat brown envelopes.

[Leaver]

3rd World justice system in a 3rd World Country. 

[tingtong]

It sounds as much self defense as premeditated murder.

 

[jacko45k]

18 hours ago, khunPer said:

"Self defense" was the court's verdict, could it perhaps also be self defense if you feel threatened when a police officer drives on motorbike in front of you...????

Completely irrelevant.....

[khunPer]

7 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Completely irrelevant.....

Are you in a bad mood today..?????

Edited June 19, 2021 by khunPer

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, khunPer said:

Are you in a bad mood today..?????

Usually.

[Leaver]

18 hours ago, tingtong said:

It sounds as much self defense as premeditated murder.

 

 

Maybe premediated self defence.  ????