Thai Appeals Court Reaffirms Death Sentence for Railway Worker who Raped and Murdered 13-year-old Kachakorn Pitakchamnong
Tuesday,
September 15th, 2015 | Posted by Editor
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The
rape and murder of the 13-year-old Kachakorn Pitakchamnong took place on a
night train operated by the State Railway of Thailand
PRACHUAP KIRI KHAN – A Thai appeals court yesterday
reaffirmed the death sentence for a railway worker Wanchai Saengkhao, 23, for
the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl.
Wanchai Saengkhao, was sentenced to death by the
court in September 2014 for killing 13-year-old Kachakorn Pitakchamnong.
Mr.Wanchai’s defense team appealed the verdict on
the grounds his life should be spared because he had repented his action.
“His argument that he has repented his wrongdoing
is inadmissible,” the judge said, rejecting Wanchai’s call for leniency and
affirming the death penalty the Khaosod News Reported.
Under Thai law, those sentenced to death have 60
days to appeal the verdict. The execution cannot be carried out unless the case
is considered final.
Somjet Amnuaysawasdi, head of Seventh District
Appeals Court, said prosecutors will not appeal the verdict, but Wanchai has
the right to do so if he believes the sentence should be overturned.
Wanchai Bunnag, the lawyer representing the
victim’s family, said his clients are satisfied with the court’s affirmation of
death penalty for the convict.
The rape and murder of the 13-year-old Kachakorn
Pitakchamnong took place on a night train operated by the State Railway of
Thailand, or SRT, as it was passing through Prachuap Kiri Khan in the early
morning of 6 July.
Wanchai, an SRT custodian, was later arrested by
police and confessed that he committed the crime after getting high on
methamphetamine while on duty.
Pro-death penalty activists also seized on the
incident to campaign for making rapes punishable by death; under current law,
rape carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and a rape committed with
use of a weapon is punishable by life in prison.
Capital punishment in Thailand had fallen out of
favor by the time the country changed its means of execution to lethal
injection in 2003. That year, four people were executed and since then, two
were executed in 2009, according to Amnesty International. All were executed
for drug-related offenses.
The campaign for capital punishment of rapists was
spearheaded by former beauty pageant winner Panadda Wongphudee and endorsed by
the family of the 13-year-old girl raped and murdered by Wanchai.
Supporters of the death penalty insist that
executing rapists would decrease the number of rape incidents, though human
rights activists say there is little proof the death penalty is an effective
deterrent against crimes.
https://www.facebook.com/VictimsFamiliesForTheDeathPenalty/posts/1474158396039455
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PHOTO CAPTION: Wanchai
Saengkhao 're-enacts' the crime for police in a 9 July, 2014, file photo.
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