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Published on September 29, 2007

The Criminal Court yesterday acquitted businessman Noppadol Thamma-wattana in a murder retrial in which he was accused of murdering his MP brother Hangthong eight years ago.

The judges said prosecution witnesses failed to convince in their testimonies that would have implicated Noppadol as the person who shot dead Hangthong on a couch in their family home on the night of November 5, 1999.

"The testimonies provided during the retrial were not sufficient enough to rule that the victim was murdered. Hereby the Court will no longer consider whether the defendant killed the victim, and therefore rules that the defendant is acquitted," the judges said.

According to the verdict, conflicting reports on a trajectory study of 20 gun pellets found in Hangthong's head in the autopsy report favoured the defence rather than the prosecution.

Noppadol insisted that Hangthong shot himself while the prosecution said he was shot in the right temple.

"The discovery of a stray pellet near the fourth neck vertebra in the third autopsy does not necessarily mean that the gun was shot in a declining, rear-to-front direction, which is nevertheless against a basic configuration and known nature of a person trying to shoot his right temple with a gun," the verdict said.

The verdict also said prosecution testimonies, which were also provided by Khunying Pornthip Rojjanasuna, acting director of Central Institute of Forensic Science Thailand, over the food found in Hangthong's stomach were not sufficient enough to prove that Noppadol had lied about what Hangthong had eaten before he died.

Autopsy reports said only pomelo and tamarind sauce were found in Hangthong's stomach, while Noppadol said his older brother ate rose apple and instant noodles before he was found dead.

"It is possibly because rose apple and instant noodles can be digested faster than pomelo and tamarind, like the defence protested, and the prosecution has provided no scientific proof to counter the defence's claim," the judges said.

The verdict also ruled in Noppadol's defence the fact that Hangthong wrote a letter to all his siblings calling on them to forgive each other for their rivalries and unite - the day before he died.

The prosecutors said they would appeal the acquittal.

The retrial commenced on January 23, 2004 following the police re-investigation into the murder of the former Prachakorn Thai Party MP in late 2003, at the request of other Thammawattana family members hostile to Noppadol.

Noppadol said he would file criminal and civil defamatory lawsuits against Pornthip, apart from two ongoing criminal lawsuits on perjury and producing false evidence, as well as lodge a complaint with the Medical Council against her.

Commenting on his acquittal, Noppadol said he "thanked the court for its mercy". He said the considerable detail into which the court went regarding the police reinvestigation report, and his defence, was beyond his expectations.

Pornthip offered no opinion on the verdict and said she did everything in the retrial out of her sincerity and her professionalism. She said Noppadol had the right to file lawsuits against her.

The Nation