The Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced a school master to death for shooting dead three people, a young boy and two adults, while robbing a gold shop in a Lop Buri mall on Jan 9.

Prasittichai Khaokaew, 38, former director of a primary school in Sing Buri province, was taken to the court in Bangkok to hear the judgement.

Public prosecutors arraigned him on nine counts, including three murders and attempted murder.

Prasittichai was armed with a pistol when he robbed Aurora gold shop inside Robinson shopping mall in Lop Buri on Jan 9.

He killed Theerachat Nimma, a security guard at the mall, two-year-old Panuwit Wongyoo and Thidarat Thongthip, a female employee of the shop.

He also shot and seriously wounded a fourth person before fleeing on a motorcycle with 33 gold necklaces worth about 665,470 baht. He was later caught and confessed to all charges.

The court found him guilty on all counts and sentenced him to death, with a fine of 1,000 baht, and ordered him to pay compensation to the families of all victims.

Surveillance camera footage showed the robber shooting with a pistol at customers and gold shop staff as he walked up to the store counter.

He fired without hesitation at a two-year-old boy walking past the shop with his mother. The robber shot dead a security guard as he left.

After a weeks-long manhunt, police investigators arrested Prasittichai. Some of the gold was found hidden in his father's carport roof.