Supreme Court upholds death for schoolgirl’s murderer
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for Krittidech Rawengwan, a former village headman who murdered a teenage schoolgirl in the northeastern province of Kalasin. He had already been sentenced to death by two lower courts.
On Dec 23, 2015, 18 year old Ruadeewan Polprasit, nicknamed “Nong Snow”, was returning home from school on a motorbike when she followed by a man on another motorcycle. The attacker kicked her motorbike to the ground and began to rape her. Ruadeewan fought back and managed to free herself despite being badly hurt. She died later of her injuries. A post mortem exam showed that her liver was ruptured.
Krittidech was arrested in April 2016 for attempted rape and murder. He was indicted in the Kalasin Provincial Court in June 2016.
On March 30, 2017, the same court found him guilty, citing forensic evidence, and sentenced him to death. He was ordered to pay 2.39 million baht compensation. for damage. Krittidech appealed the sentence and was released on bail. But the Appeals Court upheld the lower court’s ruling in July 2018. Krittidech then took his case to Thailand’s Supreme Court.
Capital punishment has been rare in Thailand for the last 15 years, and the country has adopted a more “humane” method of execution: lethal injection. Some citizens blame a lack of harsh punishment for a rise in violent crime in recent years, such as rape, murders and killings that involve dismemberment and other gruesome acts.
SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times
