Supreme Court Finalizes Heavy Sentences for Pattaya "Drum Barrel Murder" Gang

Three Defendants Receive Final Sentences: 25 Years, 30 Years, and Life Imprisonment

Heavy sentences have been finalized for a group of individuals who were put on trial for kidnapping and murdering a Korean man in his 30s while he was traveling in Pattaya, Thailand, mutilating his body, and abandoning it in a reservoir.

The Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Park Youngjae) on December 4 upheld the original verdict in the final appeal for three individuals charged with robbery-murder, mutilation and concealment of a corpse, sentencing Defendant A to 25 years in prison, Defendant B to life imprisonment, and Defendant C to 30 years in prison.

The three, including Defendant A, were indicted and detained on charges of kidnapping and murdering a Korean man in his 30s, identified as Defendant D, while he was traveling in Pattaya, Thailand in May last year, then mutilating his body and abandoning it in a reservoir.

They had been making a living through telephone financial fraud (voice phishing), but when their profits dwindled, they conspired to kidnap a Korean tourist and steal his money. On the day of the incident, they met the victim at a club in Bangkok, Thailand, gave him a drink laced with drugs, and after he became intoxicated, offered to take him to his accommodation. They then put him in a prepared vehicle and drove to a lodging facility they had arranged as the crime scene.

During the drive, when the victim resisted, saying they were going in the wrong direction, they strangled him, attempted to bind him, and violently assaulted his face and upper body, ultimately causing his death. Afterward, the group mutilated part of the victim's body, placed it in a rubber container with cement, solidified it, and disposed of it in the Maprachan Reservoir in Pattaya to conceal the crime.

They also used the victim's mobile phone to transfer 3.7 million won from the victim's account to their own accounts, and attempted to demand a ransom of about 100 million won from the victim's family by calling them and pretending the victim was still alive, although this attempt failed.

Both the first and second trial courts sentenced Defendant A to 25 years in prison, Defendant B to life imprisonment, and Defendant C to 30 years in prison. The Supreme Court also ruled, "There was no error in the lower court's judgment that would constitute a violation of the rules of logic and experience, nor did it exceed the limits of free evaluation of evidence or misunderstand the legal principles regarding intent and causality in robbery-murder, or the conspiracy among the defendants."