Death penalty upheld for gold-heist robber
published : 26 Apr 2023 at 15:06
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Online Reporters
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence for a gold shop-robber who shot dead three people, one a child, and wounded four others during a robbery at a Lop Buri mall in 2020.
On Jan 9, 2020, Prasittichai Khaokaeo, a former primary school director in Sing Buri, armed with a 9mm handgun fitted with a sound suppressor, stormed into Robinson Department Store in Muang district, Lop Buri.
He shot dead three people - a security guard, a two-year-old boy and a female employee of Aurora gold shop. He also shot and wounded four other people.
Prasittichai then robbed the gold shop of 33 gold necklaces, worth 664,470 baht in total at the time.
The Criminal Court on Aug 27, 2020, sentenced Prasittichai to death and ordered him to pay damages.
The Appeal Court later upheld the lower court's sentencing.
Prasittichai appealed to the Supreme Court, seeking a reduced penalty.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld both lower court decisions, ruling there was no reason he should be granted a reprieve for the cold-blooded crimes he had committed.
Vocabulary
- appeal: to make a request that a court change a decision of a lower court - ยื่นอุทธรณ์
- Appeal Court (Court of Appeal) : a court that decides requests that a decision made by a lower court be changed - ศาลอุทธรณ์
- cold-blooded: deliberately cruel and showing no emotion - เลือดเย็น
- damages: money that a court awards to a person who sued another person for causing injury to them -
- heist: (informal) an act of stealing something valuable, especially from a shop/store or bank - การปล้น (คำสแลง)
- penalty: a punishment, or the usual punishment, for doing something that is against a law - โทษ
- reprieve (noun): officially cancelling or delaying a punishment or regulation - การชะลอการลงโทษ, การรอการลงโทษ
- sentence : (of a court of law) to give a punishment - ลงโทษ
- storm: to use force to enter a place and try to take control of it - บุกกระหน่ำ
- suppressor (noun): a thing or person that prevents something from growing, developing or continuing - เครื่องห้าม, เครื่องระงับ
- supreme court: the highest court in a country - ศาลฎีกา, ศาลสูงสุด
- upheld (verb): when a higher court said a lower court decision was ok and denied an appeal to reverse the court's decision - พิพากษายืนตามคำตัดสินหรือวินิจฉัยของศาลชั้นต้น
- wounded: injured, especially where your skin or flesh is damaged, usually seriously - บาดเจ็บ
