The Supreme Court of Thailand upheld the death penalty for an ex-elementary school principal convicted of killing three people, including a toddler, during an armed gold shop robbery in 2020.
The court ruled on Wednesday that Prasitthichai Khaewkao did not deserve a reduction in his original sentence, describing the shooting in a shopping mall in Lopburi province as “outrageously, ruthlessly inhuman” in a statement released Friday.
The attack injured four people and killed a sales clerk, a security guard, and a 2-year-old boy.
Prasitthichai was found guilty and sentenced to death in August 2020 on charges including first-degree murder, murder in the commission of another crime, and illegally carrying a gun.
In 2021, the Appeal Court upheld the death penalty as well.
The Supreme Court said the defendant, as a teacher and a headmaster, should have behaved as a good role model for students, but instead committed a serious crime.
Therefore, it said there were not enough grounds to grant his appeal for a sentence reduction.
Security footage of the shooting was widely broadcast and sent a shockwave across the country.
One video showed a man dressed in a black ski mask and camouflage trousers, with a backpack across his chest, carrying a pistol with a silencer as he entered the Robinson Lopburi mall.
Another camera at the gold shop showed the man firing his pistol, and the toddler, who had been walking hand-in-hand with an adult, suddenly falling to the ground.
The man grabbed a number of gold necklaces before fleeing.
