Another life sentence for serial killer

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Another life sentence for serial killer
Published: 28/04/2011 at 12:57 PM
Bangkok Post: Online news:  

Somkid Phumphuang, dubbed "Thailand's Jack the Ripper", was on Thursday sentenced by the Criminal Court to life for the murder of a masseuse at a hotel in Muang district of Udon Thani province in June 2005.

This is the last of the five murder cases in which Somkid was found guilty by the Criminal Court.

In this case, the Criminal Court found Somkid, 47, guilty of murdering Porntawan Pungkhabut, a masseuse, in a room of the Charoensri Grand Royal Hotel in Muang district of Udon Thani on June 18, 2005.

The masseuse was found strangled to death in the hotel room where she spent the night with Somkid, who left the hotel without paying the bill and took with him some of his victim's belongings.

The court initially sentenced Somkid to death, but the sentence was commuted to life due to his confession.

Somkid was earlier found guilty by the court of murdering four other women in 2005: Warunee Phimphabut, 25, a nightclub singer, at a hotel in Mukdahan province on Jan 30; Phongphan Sabchai, 34, a masseuse, in Lampang on June 2; Patcharee Amatanirum, 38, a singer, in Trang on June 11; and Sompong Pimpornpirom, 36, a masseuse, in Buri Ram on June 20.

Somkid was sentenced to death in all five cases. The death sentences in four cases were commuted to life because of his confession, but not for the murder of the masseuse in Lampang.

The victims were all massage parlour and nightclub workers. In each case their personal effects had also been stolen from the hotel rooms where their bodies were found.

Somkid was arrested on June 29, 2005 at the house of his wife in Chaiyaphum province.