A 36-year-old Thai woman alleged to be one of the worst serial killers in the history of the country was convicted and sentenced to death for killing a friend by cyanide poisoning, the first of 14 murders she has committed.
Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, addicted to online gambling, is accused of defrauding thousands of dollars from her victims before killing them, AFP reported.
The “serial killer” was convicted on Wednesday by a Bangkok court for poisoning and killing her friend Siriporn Kanwong.
Sararat and Siriporn reportedly met with each other near Bangkok in April 2023 to release a fish into the Mae Klong River for a Buddhist ritual.
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After having a meal with Sararat, Siriporn collapsed, and shortly after that, she died. When she was found, her phone, money and other belongings had been missing.
As her relatives refused to accept it as death caused by natural causes, Siriporn’s postmortem revealed that there were traces of cyanide in her body.
Sararat was arrested, and eventually, police were able to uncover her link to the series of unsolved cyanide poisonings dating back to 2015, officials said.
After the trial, Siriporn’s mother, Tongpin Kiatchanasiri, told reporters, “The court’s decision is just. I want to tell my daughter that I miss her deeply, and justice has been done for her today.”
Tongpin said that Sararat was smiling when her sentence was being read in court, BBC reported. The accused pleaded not guilt to the charges filed against her.
‘Poisoned herb capsules’
Meanwhile, police said that Sararat used to fund her gambling addiction by taking money from her victims, in one such case she borrowed 300,000 baht (nearly $9,000), before murdering them and stealing their belongings.
She managed to lure 15 people to take “herb capsules” that she had poisoned with cyanide. One of the victims survived, police said.
Now Sararat has to face another 13 separate murder trials, and has been charged with around 80 offences in total.
Her ex-husband, a former police lieutenant-colonel, was also sentenced to one year and four months in prison for hiding evidence and helping Sararat evade arrest. The accused’s lawyer was also handed a two-year prison term for the same. Both of them pleaded not guilty, the BBC report said.
Vitoon Rangsiwuthaporn, Sararat’s ex-husband, reportedly turned himself in to the police last year. Cops said he most likely helped the accused poison one of her ex-boyfriends, Suthisak Poonkwan.
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Additionally, the Bangkok court also ordered Sararat to pay Siriporn’s family a compensation of two million baht ($57,667).
Cyanide is such a poison that deprives the body cells of oxygen, which can then result in heart attacks. Early symptoms of cyanide poisoning can include dizziness, shortness of breath and vomiting.
It can also cause death within seconds if consumed in large quantities.
Earlier this year, six foreign tourists were found dead inside a luxury hotel in central Bangkok. The Thai forensic division had found traces of cyanide in the empty coffee cups that were found in their room by the police.
Of those deceased, Thailand’s foreign ministry said, two were Vietnamese Americans, and four were Vietnamese nationals.
