The murder of Jakkrit Panichatikum highlights a number of features about Thai society that might puzzle foreigners.  Let me explain these.

The plan vanilla facts are that a champion sports sharpshooter was shot dead in what looks like a professional hit in the Bangkok suburbs while driving to the home of his estranged wife and family.  A Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle approached his Porsche and the pillion passenger opened fire.  He died on the way to hospital, and none of the bullets hit his passenger, a maid. 

Jakkrit had taken part in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics and won medals at the 2006 Asian Games.  However his relationship with the sports authorities (which in the case of competitive shooting in Thailand are overwhelmingly men in green or brown) was poor, and he was once sent home in disgrace. 

In July this year he was arrested for attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms (in addition, I assume, to those he had legally), assault and violence.  This was after he threatened his mother and wife, who were removed to a safe house. 

Now unlike those charged with truly dangerous activities, like lèse majesté, he was eventually granted bail, against the wishes of the police.  Bail is supposed to be the right of an accused unless the court deems that the crime is serious, that there is the risk of flight or that there are reasons to believe that the accused will attempt to interfere with witnesses or the evidence.

This is why you can go to the Criminal Court and discover cases where defendants are held on remand for the utterly heinous possession of half a ya ba pill.  It also explains why the policemen found guilty of murder in Kalasin were given bail as soon as they filed an appeal.  (This was immediately after protection for the witnesses was withdrawn on the grounds that the accused had been found guilty already.)

In this case, a well-heeled, well-connected suspect with a legal armoury at home and a reputation for confrontation and indiscipline was a clear candidate for bail.

His family then dropped charges in the hope of reconciliation and he was released. 

Now legal systems often allow prosecutions of certain crimes to go ahead only with the consent of the victim.  Typically these involve sexual crimes, where it is thought wrong to force an unwilling victim to undergo the trauma of a trial, or relatively minor crimes against the person, such as theft or defamation. 

Thailand has a particularly broad definition of these so-called ‘compoundable’ crimes.  So if you almost kill someone but fail, then get bail, as is your constitutional right, you do now have the chance to, er, persuade your victim to let you off completely.

In this case, a well-heeled, well-connected suspect with a legal armoury at home and a reputation for confrontation and indiscipline clearly posed no danger to society or his victims and was unlikely to re-offend.  Prosecutions for minor infractions such as attempted murder would merely clog up the court system.

In the aftermath it was revealed that Jakkrit had been living a life of debauchery and drugs.  He openly paraded his mistresses, belittled his wife in public and allegedly used cocaine, methamphetamines and ecstasy. 

Of course, serial adultery and habitual fornication, especially among the male elite, is not viewed in quite the same way here as in other countries.  In fact, it seems to have earned for Jakkrit a reputation as a bit of a lovable rogue.  It seems he almost always bought flowers or presents afterwards to make up.  So that’s alright then.

The drug use is little more difficult to explain, especially when we are talking about someone who was using during a period when he was also proudly carrying his nation’s flag at the London Olympics.  Perhaps they were medically prescribed to help calm his nerves before competition. 

The police, however, have ruled out his drug-taking as a possible motive for his murder.  He was only a drug user, they say, a mere victim, and not a drug dealer.  It is a well-known fact in criminology that drug users never get involved in disputes that may lead to violence or murder.

Then there was his involvement in the amulet trade.  This is a serious, multi-billion baht trade, run on admirably free market capitalist lines, in lumps of metal and baked clay that form part of a religion that eschews materialism.  Again, the police have ruled this out as a motive.  Clearly the amulets he was wearing that day didn’t work.  But perhaps his close association with Buddhist images helped him maintain his control of his lust, greed and hatred.

And finally there is the police investigation, which once again seems to have started by looking for motives rather than evidence from the scene of the crime or anything else that they are paid to do.  This is of course the correct method if one wants the crime to become fodder for the tabloids and TV, where anyone can have an opinion.

I hope this case has increased the reader’s understanding of some of the principles of how Thai society works.  Next week we will explain how putting 94 tow-trucks onto the streets to remove 19 illegally parked cars will improve traffic flow.

About author:  Bangkokians with long memories may remember his irreverent column in The Nation in the 1980's. During his period of enforced silence since then, he was variously reported as participating in a 999-day meditation retreat in a hill-top monastery in Mae Hong Son (he gave up after 998 days), as the Special Rapporteur for Satire of the UN High Commission for Human Rights, and as understudy for the male lead in the long-running ‘Pussies -not the Musical' at the Neasden International Palladium (formerly Park Lane Empire).