Toby Charnaud

[Roppongi]

Court convicts Thai woman of murdering British husband､

PETCHABURI, Thailand (AP) _ A Thai woman and three accomplices were sentenced to life imprisonment Wednesday for the grisly murder of her British husband, whose charred remains were found buried in a national park in central Thailand.

Toby Leicester Charnaud, 41, disappeared in March 2005 after going to collect his son from the home of his ex-wife, Panatda Raolueang, in Petchaburi, 105 kilometers (65 miles) southwest of Bangkok.

The Petchaburi provincial court convicted Panatda, two of her relatives and a neighbor of premeditated murder.

Judge Sarayuth Busayanawin said Panatda was "guilty of hiring other people to commit murder."

She lured her husband to her home, where the three men _ Bunthiam Phuiphong, 31, Chatri Sriprathum, 28, and Niphit Satabut, 27 _ were waiting for him.

Initially, the men tried to shoot Charnaud, but the gun failed to work, so they beat him to death with an iron bar and burned his body on a stack of charcoal, according to court testimony. They then buried the ashes in a hole they had dug in advance at a nearby national park, according to the testimony.

Panatda blinked back tears as the verdict was read.

"It's not bad being in prison," said Panatda, who has been in custody since her arrest in May 2005. "I don't feel anything."

Charnaud's mother, who did not attend the hearing, issued a statement saying his family's "lives have been shattered" by the murder.

"For me, his mother, one of the worst horrors of his death is the fact that the first attempt to kill him failed and he would have been aware of his murderers making their fatal attack," said the statement from his mother, Sarah Charnaud, who called her son a kind and generous man and a wonderful father.

Charnaud met Panatda when she was working as a security guard at a shopping mall in Bangkok and married her in 1997. They went to England to live with Charnaud's parents for three years, but returned to Thailand where Charnaud bought two bars in the popular beach resort town of Hua Hin. The couple had a son.

He divorced Panatda in 2004 after learning that she had an affair with a Thai police officer and because of the woman's gambling habit, which had plummeted the couple into massive debt, said the Charnaud family lawyer, Bunchu Yensabai.

Their four-year-old son was under Charnaud's custody, but the boy regularly visited his mother.

Panatda said under police questioning that Charnaud had become involved with another woman and she was concerned about the well-being of her son.

"She feared her son would face hardship and therefore wanted to kill her husband," according to testimony read aloud in court. So she hired the three men to kill Charnaud and lured her ex-husband to her home. At the time of the murder, Panatda and the child were at a nearby fair.

The three other defendants, Bunthiam, Chatri and Niphit, admitted to killing Charnaud but said they were provoked because he interrupted them while they were drinking whisky. They denied the killing was premeditated.

Panatda initially reported her husband as missing but admitted during testimony that she had lied to police.

The court acquitted two other defendants, who accompanied Panatda to the fair, ruling there was not sufficient evidence to prove they were involved in the murder plot.

[Big Boy]

Roppongi,

Thanks for the quick response - it will be good to see a line finally drawn under this sad episode.

It was quite eerie this morning seeing Toby on TV - they actually showed a piece of video tape that I shot whilst on holiday a couple of years ago of Toby playing with Daniel. I'd passed a copy of the video to his parents when I got home. I'm sure it'll be played a few more time over the coming days, while the local press notify us of Som's sentence.

[JW]

Lets all hope that life means exactly that, and that she never has enough money to pay her way out.

Let the family get on with their lives and bring up Daniel to be someone his dad would be proud of.

[lomuamart]

As she got life, which can vary widely in terms of years, depending on the offence, let's hope she goes to "Lad Yaew", the equivalent of Bang Kwang for women.
I think it's something over 25 years for maximum security?
Hopefully, there's no way out for her.

[PeteC]

The press report above alludes to the fact that she confessed, although it does not seem that she did it freely and without many hours of interrogation. In premeditated murder cases if you don't confess and are found guilty, death penalty. I guess she saw the light somewhere along the way. Pete

[Big Boy]

From what they said on TV this morning, she was not charged with the actual murder, but with hiring her relatives to do it.

[PeteC]

From what they said on TV this morning, she was not charged with the actual murder, but with hiring her relatives to do it.

That's where I stumble, cough and become ill. How more "premeditated" can it be than that? Without her, there would have been no murder. Thai law remains mysterious. No disrespect for Toby and his family but I would think his family is thinking the same thing.

No more comment or debate from me on this as inappropriate. Enough said on my part. I didn't know him but no one deserves what happened to him, and those responsible...well?? RIP Toby. Pete

[Big Boy]

prcscct wrote:

How more "premeditated" can it be than that? Without her, there would have been no murder. Thai law remains mysterious.

Please be assured, I am not trying to condone what she did, I'm simply trying to clarify how she's got away with it. I actually agree with what you are saying.

I find this whole situation very difficult because both Toby and Som, together with both of their families have been very good friends to my family for about 8 years.

There is a video news report here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm

[Jaime]

"It's not bad being in prison," said Panatda, who has been in custody since her arrest in May 2005. "I don't feel anything."

I have often wondered about this. Having a seen a couple of TV documentaries on Thai prisons the cells and lives of the people inside them just look like countless Thai homes I have seen. Spartan but clean spaces with ceramic or concrete floors and walls that are filled with people who are invariably sleeping, chattering or eating rice. Panatda's statement seems to confirm my feelings about Thai jails - tough for a westerner but relatively normal for a lower status Thai (i.e. the majority of the population).

[Norseman]

Lets all hope that life means exactly that, and that she never has enough money to pay her way out.

Agree with you JW that she should stay behind locked doors the rest of her life, but one part of her family has enough money to pay her out.
As far as I know they are absolutely NOT interested to do that because they know very well what a good man Toby was.
They hate her for what she did to him, but she's still family.

[JW]

Norseman,

I heard similar and hope it remains the case. Hopefully those that could realize what the effect on them personally would be if they did pay her iout in a few years. But this is thailand.

[PJG]

Big Boy,

Just seen on the Guardian Unlimited Website Som has been sentanced to Death comuted to life imprisonment. Same sentance for the others involved.

[lomuamart]

If you plead guilty to murder in Thailand and therefore save the prosecutors' time, you'll never get the death penalty. That's why the family members pleaded guilty straight away.
The wife is something else though.

[Bamboo Grove]

This is in today's Bangkok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/07Sep2006_news17.php

[Big Boy]

Bamboo Grove wrote:

This is in today's Bangkok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/07Sep2006_news17.php

I've read it, but don't understand

A squire from Wiltshire in Britain, Charnaud had set up a dairy business in Prachuap Khiri Khan's Hua Hin district. He also owned a dairy farm in nearby Phetchaburi's Kang Krachan district.

Squire Toby - he'd have liked that one.

What's all this about the dairy business? I thought I knew him - was he moonlighting as a milkman?

I assume the dairy farm is reference to where Som was living. However, I thought he was renting that.

Does anybody know?