Academic staffer gets 13 years for killing man
The Criminal Court yesterday sentenced an employee of Chula-longkorn University's Faculty of Electrical Engineering to 13 years and six days in jail for shooting dead a merchant who urinated in front of his home last march.
The merchant, Suthan Ithisirising, 45, had been drinking at a party in Bangkok's Bang Sue neighbourhood and later urinated in front of the Mr Stamp Building belonging to 47-year-old university lab assistant Santilak Thanyahan at about 1.30am. Santilak fired a gun twice in the air, after which the two men quarrelled briefly. Suthan's friends tried to stop them from fighting, and Santilak shot at the group, hitting Suthan in the chest and causing his death. The court said Santilak's claim that the shot had been fired accidentally during a struggle for the gun and that he had no intention to kill Suthan was not convincing. The bullet would not have hit Suthan, who was standing behind Santilak, if it had not been fired intentionally, it said. The court sentenced Santilak to 12 years and six days in jail for murder and carrying a gun in public. He will also serve an extra year of a suspended jail sentence he received for a previous assault conviction.
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