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Published on July 25, 2007

The verdict will be read out at 9am in Room 7 of the courthouse, after the Supreme Court rules on 13 points in dispute by Wisut. The judgement will de-cide whether the death sentence handed to the senior doctor by the Criminal Court is upheld - as ruled earlier by the Court of Appeals - or commuted.

It has been six long years for the Watthanachet family, including Thanaphong, a brother of Phassaporn, who said yesterday that he believed the death sentence would be upheld against Wisut. He said all of Phassaporn's relatives had faith in the justice system.

He said he would hear the verdict in Chiang Mai, while his father and sister would attend the session themselves.

"It's the day all of us have been waiting for. It has come. Everyone's mentally ready to cope with whatever happens. I personally believe it will be over," he said.

Thanaphong said he believed Wisut would still request a royal pardon to spare his life if the death sentence were upheld.

"He is entitled to do so, and we have to accept him exercising his right on that," he added.

A legal source detailed some of the 13 points of dispute made by Wisut: Wisut and his wife had no conflicts over marital assets and had not divorced; Wisut had no sexual relationship with any patient; the facts regarding the death reported to the court were not accurate; and the last person staying close to the victim was a hospital guard, not Wisut.

Other points are: Wisut had never detained his wife against her will; he used strong sleeping pills to treat his mother and not the victim, who had hired a woman to type a letter that was made to look as it was written by the victim; Wisut did not forge his wife's signature; and the facts in autopsy reports identifying human flesh found in a cesspool as the victim's were not reliable.

Police began investigating the case after Wisut filed a missing-person's report with police in late February 2001 over Phassaporn's disappearance.

Police later produced video footage taken from security cameras at a shopping mall showing him helping his wife walk out of a Japanese restaurant on February 20, when was she was last seen alive. Phassaporn appeared sick and disoriented in the video.

On March 22, police searched a dorm building in the Chulalongkorn Hospital compound, where Wisut worked as the head of gynaecology, and found human flesh and organs in a cesspool along with human blood on a curtain. Autopsy reports verified that the DNA belonged to Phassaporn and that the flesh had been cut off at a time close to when she disappeared.

The Criminal Court found Wisut guilty and sentenced him to death on October 7, 2003. The Court of Appeals upheld the sentence on July 4, 2005.

Kesinee Taengkheo,

Kwandao Jitphana

The Nation