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A Thai man was sentenced to nine years in prison by a Bangkok court on Monday for the murder of a Japanese woman two decades ago in Tokyo.
Veerasak Lampongsa, 41, was convicted of stabbing 33-year-old Megumi Kawachi with a fruit knife and strangling her in an apartment in the Japanese capital in March 1993.
The suspect, who pleaded guilty, stole money and other valuables before fleeing back to Thailand, according to prosecutors.
"The court found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to 18 years in jail, but as he confessed, the punishment was reduced by half to nine years," a court official said.
Veerasak had been on the run until he was arrested in October last year at a bus station in southern Thailand, five months before the case's statute of limitations was due to expire.
He will serve his time in Thailand.
Bangkok and Tokyo have no extradition treaty. But Thai law allows for a Thai to be tried for certain crimes committed overseas if there is such a request by a foreign government or victim.
© (C) 2013 AFP
10 Comments
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torosushi
RIP, Ms. Megumi Kawachi....
ControlFreak
He was on the run and being sought for almost 20 years? I should think that would preclude a confession having any meaning. One can only hope there is a law stating he will get two years for every year he evaded the authorities. Then his sentence would be about right.
DaDude
He deserves life in prison. This Thai guy evaded police for much longer. He will probably be pardoned by the king and serve only some of the time.
fds
life is cheap. cost only 9 years for one.
iLikeTurtles
9 years for murder? The Thai justice system is a joke.
Scnadal.Lova
really nice judge, cutting his sentence in half.
iskysong
18 years for murdering someone minus 9 years for confessing, so to sum it up, he got a lenient tax-free 9 years only.
What about the penalty for evading authority on the run for all those years?
Would he confess if he had not been caught in the first place?
If he evaded 5 more months, he is a free man..... what an awesomely fair judicial system??
Alex Einz
he probably could get less severe sentence in japan
ookami
Had he smuggled drugs, he'd serve life in Thai.
Elbuda Mexicano
Me think this bad Thai should get marijuana, yaba and cocaine planted in his socks and shorts so as to make sure that this bloody murderer of poor Japanese woman get death penalty ala Thai! Let him hang, he bad, he no deserve to breath same oxygen as us gooder people. Let him hang and here in Japan! RIP Megumi Kawachi