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Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn killed her friend last year by dousing the victim’s food with cyanide and then stole more than US$4,400 ($6,755) worth of property from her, according to a summary judgment in a Bangkok court this week.
A gambling addict turned to murder and robbery to pay off her debts, a judge said during a three-hour hearing, government-owned broadcaster NBT Connext reported.
The case was brought to national attention by Sararata’s ties to her ex-husband – a former senior police officer – and her pregnancy when she was arrested last May in connection with the suspicious death of Siriporn Khanwong, sparking a wide-ranging investigation into other unsolved cyanide poisoning accidents.
The two women were seen together on CCTV footage before Siriporn passed out and died, police previously told CNN.
Siriporna’s autopsy found traces of cyanide in her body, which a police investigation later found to be a common factor among victims who ate or drank with Sararat before their deaths, police told CNN last year.
After Sararat’s arrest, a woman came forward to accuse her of poisoning her years earlier. The prosecutor said she was resuscitated in hospital after the 2020 incident but was too afraid to speak out because of Saratat’s relationship with her ex-husband, who held the rank of police lieutenant colonel.
Sararat did not testify at the trial. The court convicted her of charges including premeditated murder, robbery causing death and throwing away food or other consumables resulting in death. In addition to the death sentence, she was also ordered to pay restitution for the stolen items that were not found.
Siriporn’s family cried and hugged each other when the sentence was read, NBT Connext reported. Sararat did not meet the prosecutor’s eye on the court side, although she smiled and spoke to her lawyer during the hearing.
Sararata’s lawyer and her ex-husband were also sentenced this week.
After Siriporn’s murder, the killer’s lawyer, Thanicha Eksuwanwat, urged her ex-husband, Witoon Rangsiwuthaporn, to destroy or hide evidence linking her to the crime, according to a summary of the verdict.
Witoon, a former police officer, was sentenced to one year and four months in prison, the summary said. Thanicha, a lawyer, was sentenced to two years in prison.
Thanichi and Witoon were granted bail by the court pending their appeal.
Thanicha told CNN on Thursday that Saratat denies the allegations against her and plans to appeal her verdict. “My client is innocent… She is not satisfied with the court verdict,” Thanicha said.
The National Police Agency will submit a series of additional murder cases against Sararat to the prosecutor next week, NBT Connext reported.
Thailand lifted a de facto moratorium on the death penalty in 2018, executing a man by lethal injection in the country’s first execution since August 2009, according to rights groups.
There have been no executions since then, but courts have imposed the death penalty in several cases, including the high-profile murders of two British backpackers in 2019.
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