Canadian murder suspect to be extradited to US

A murder suspect from Canada has lost his appeal against extradition to the United States after Bangkok’s Appeal Court upheld a lower court’s ruling, sending him to face a murder charge there. The ruling was handed down this afternoon. The extradition was sought by the Office of the Attorney-General against Matthew Alexander McGowan, accused of fatally shooting another person in September 2017 in the US state of Florida. He was arrested in Thailand in November 2018 and all bail requests have been denied. The US sought his extradition soon after his arrest but McGowan has refused to be extradited.

Accounts given by Florida police and prosecutors in Florida handling the case, as well as an image of the suspect captured in CCTV footage strongly support McGowan having been involved in the crime.

McGowan was brought to the Criminal Court yesterday from the Bangkok Remand Prison, where he has been held since his arrest in November 2018.

In June 2019, the Criminal Court ordered his extradition to the US. McGowan appealed the extradition, insisting he was not the person described in the extradition request. But a witness, a diplomat, testified before the court that the defendant was in fact the person in the arrest warrant issued by the US court. Immigration police say investigation shows the defendant is the person wanted by the US.

The Appeal Court upheld the lower court’s ruling to extradite McGowan to the US, on the grounds that he is the person on the arrest warrant and it is not a political case.

After hearing the verdict, McGowan asked the court whether he could appeal the ruling again, but the court said the ruling is final.

SOURCE: Bangok Post