A 51-year-old engineer has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, fined 2,000 baht and ordered to pay 340,000-baht compensation for shooting dead a teenage boy during a rowdy confrontation over double-parking in Chon Buri province early last year.
The Chon Buri provincial court on Thursday found Suthep Pochanasomboon guilty of the premeditated murder of grade 10 student Nawapol Peungpai, 17, at Khrok Yai intersection in tambon Ang Sila of Chon Buri's Muang district on Feb 4, 2017.
Suthep had admitted to illegally carrying a firearm in public but denied premeditated murder, arguing that he acted in defence of himself and his fearful family.
The court found that the dead youth's friend had double-parked their van, blocking in Suthep's parked car, outside a grocery store, and that led to a dispute.
The van then drove off and Suthep followed in his vehicle. Both drivers exchanged blasts with their horns, while cutting in on each other in a challenging manner.
Then the two vehicles pulled over and several youths boiled out of the van and charged at Suthep in his car, and he fired a loaded pistol at them in response.
The whole incident had lasted, without interruption, about five minutes. As both sides were willingly involved in the fight, Suthep's claim of self-defence was dismissed.
The submission that he was defending his family, who were in the car with him, was also rejected because the victim and his friends did not assault the family members.
Arguments in the case were linked to a series of video clips released online, most of which came from the defendant's dashboard camera.
One of the clips shows Suthep stopping his vehicle to seek help from a rescue worker, and then the van cuts in front of his car. The youths rush out and move aggressively towards his car.
A fierce argument follows, and then a gunshot.
A man believed to be Suthep is repeatedly heard saying "he punched me". A woman, believed to be his wife, asks "Did you shoot him?"
Another video clip, apparently from the same camera, shows the argument starting outside the shop.
It shows the van, packed with teenagers, double-parked and blocking in Suthep's car.
The driver and a woman, off camera, express their anger over the situation.
The man asks the woman to hand him a gun kept in the car. Soon afterwards a full-blown argument breaks out.
Suthep was later released on court bail of 670,000 baht pending an appeal.