A man who was sentenced by the Criminal Court to a year and nine months in jail for being part of a group that murdered eight family members in Krabi in July 2017 was handed the death sentence by the Appeal Court on Tuesday.
Thawatchai Boonkhong was found guilty on Tuesday by the Appeal Court of conspiring to rob victims leading to their death, which formed the basis for the court imposing the death sentence on him. The lower court sentenced Thawatchai to jail only for possessing a firearm and trespassing on the victims' property.
The Appeal Court said that although Thawatchai was not in the house when the killings took place, he had also intended to commit the offences.
One of his accomplices, Chalita Sangchote, saw her jail sentence of 12 months unchanged. Both of them had already served out the sentences ordered by the lower court.
The other six suspects -- including the mastermind, Surikfat Bannopwongsakul, also known as Bang Fat -- were sentenced by the lower court to death in March last year.
The court also ordered Thawatchai to pay more than 5 million baht in compensation to the plaintiffs who are relatives of the victims.
The group wore military-style clothing when they forced their way into the home of Worayut Sanglang, chief of Moo 1 village in tambon Ban Klang of Ao Luk district, on July 10, 2017.
They held 11 members of the family, including Worayut, captive.
The victims were later all shot, execution style. Three of the victims, a mother and her two young daughters, survived.