The Phetchaburi provincial court on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for a former Police General Hospital doctor after he failed to show up for verdicts of murder and theft cases against him.
Pol Col Supat Laohawattana was required to appear before the court to hear an Appeal Court ruling on a charge that he murdered his Myanmar employee at his pineapple orchard in Phetchaburi's Tha Yang district.
The court also was to rule on charges he illegally possessed the vehicle of two former employees missing since 2009 and now presumed dead.
The judge asked Pol Col Supat's third wife, Wilasa Chantarabanchorn -a co-defendant in the theft case - and his two sons, Ake and Akara - charged as accomplices in the murder case - about his whereabouts, but they did not know.
The court believes the doctor-turned-murder suspect intended to flee and issued a warrant for his arrest. It also seized 600,000 baht placed as surety in the wo cases. The court postponed its rulings to March 25.
Pol Col Supat was initially arrested in September 2012 in connection with the disappearance of Samart Noomjui and his wife, Orasa Kerdsap, who were reported missing in June 2009 while working at Pol Col Supat's orchard in Tha Yang district.
As the investigation progressed, police stumbled upon evidence implicating the doctor in the murder of a Myanmar worker. Pol Col Supat was subsequently charged with premeditated murder and human trafficking.
The Phetchaburi court sentenced the ex-doctor to five years in jail and his wife three years and four months for theft. The couple was released on bail pending appeal.
The fugitive was given a prison sentence of three years and 33 months and a one-million-baht fine for human trafficking.