On Tuesday, Nitiwadee "Mor Nim" Pucharoenyos, a victim of domestic violence, was spared the death sentence as the Appeal Court found her not guilty of killing her estranged husband. Instead, the court gave her mother the ultimate punishment for masterminding the murder.
Surang Duangjinda said she plotted the murder out of love for her daughter and to protect her from the man who might have killed her. Because of her confession, which was deemed useful in the case, the Appeal Court decided to commute her sentence to life imprisonment and released her on one-million-baht bail.
In acquitting Dr Nitiwadee, the Appeal Court overturned the verdict handed down last year by the lower court. The court sentenced to death a lawyer, Santi Thongsem, 30, who hired gunman Jirasak Klinkhlai, 35 to carry out the killing. The court sentenced the gunman and his accomplice to life in prison.
