() – A Thai court handed down the death penalty to a woman accused of fatally poisoning at least dozens of people, the first ruling in a high-profile serial killing case that shocked the nation.
Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn killed her friend last year by pouring cyanide into the victim’s food and then stole more than $4,400 worth of property from her, according to a summary of the Bangkok court ruling published Wednesday.
The gambling addict had resorted to murder and robbery to pay off her debts, the judge said during the three-hour hearing, government broadcaster NBT Connext reported.
National attention on the case was fueled by Sararat’s ties to her ex-husband, a former high-ranking police officer, and her pregnancy when she was arrested last May in connection with the suspicious death of Siriporn Khanwong, which sparked a wide-ranging investigation into a series of other unsolved cyanide poisonings.
The two women were seen together on CCTV footage before Siriporn collapsed and died, police previously told .
Siriporn’s autopsy found traces of cyanide in his system, which a police investigation later revealed was a common factor among victims who ate or drank with Sararat before his death, police told last year.
After Sararat’s arrest, a woman accused her of having poisoned her years before. The complainant said that she had been revived in the hospital after the 2020 incident, but that she had been too afraid to speak out because of Sararat’s relationship with her ex-husband, who had the rank of police lieutenant colonel.
Sararat did not testify at trial. The court found her guilty of charges including premeditated murder, robbery resulting in death, and adulteration of food or other consumer products resulting in death. In addition to the death penalty, he was also ordered to pay compensation for stolen items that had not been recovered.
Siriporn’s family cried and hugged each other as the sentence was read, NBT Connext reported. Sararat did not make eye contact with the plaintiff’s side of the court, although he smiled and chatted with his attorney during the hearing.
Sararat’s former lawyer and her ex-husband were also sentenced Wednesday.
After Siriporn’s death, the killer’s then-lawyer, Thanicha Eksuwanwat, urged her ex-husband, Witoon Rangsiwuthaporn, to destroy or conceal evidence linking her to the crime, according to the sentencing summary.
According to the summary, the former police officer Witoon was sentenced to one year and four months in prison, while the lawyer Thanicha was sentenced to two years in prison.
The court granted bail to Thanicha and Witoon pending their appeals.
The national police agency will present a series of additional murder cases against Sararat to the prosecutor next week, NBT Connext reported.
Thailand lifted a de facto moratorium on the use of the death penalty in 2018, executing a man by lethal injection in the country’s first execution since August 2009, according to human rights groups.
There have been no further executions since, but courts have handed down death sentences in several cases, including high profile murders of two British backpackers in 2019.
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