The Criminal Court sentences "Am Cyanide" to death for poisoning "Fa-Darinee" to death, believed to have been done to erase a debt of approximately 200,000 baht from a savings circle and a personal loan.
At 09:30 on Monday (25 Aug.), the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road delivered its verdict in Black Case No. Ao 1802/2025, a case in which the public prosecutor charged Mrs. Saratat Wuttitaphon, also known as Am Cyanide, the defendant, with premeditated murder, murder committed for the purpose of obtaining or retaining a benefit arising from another offence she had committed, murder to conceal another offence of her own, and adulterating food, medicine, or other consumer products for another person to consume or use, where such adulteration caused the death of another person.
The prosecution alleged that the defendant mixed potassium cyanide into food, medicine, or other consumer products and gave them to Miss Darinee, also known as Fa, Thepthawee, the deceased, to drink or eat, causing the substance to enter her body, for the purpose of obtaining or retaining a benefit arising from her commission of a fraud offence. The defendant pleaded not guilty.
Earlier this morning, the court had Mrs. Saratat, or Am, the defendant, brought from the Central Women's Correctional Institution to hear the verdict. Prior to this case, the Criminal Court had already handed down judgments against Am in six other cases; including this one, it is the seventh case.
The court, upon deliberation, found that on 13 December 2020, Miss Darinee, the deceased, experienced chest tightness and difficulty breathing, before calling out to her husband who was on the second floor of the house. When he came down, he found the deceased had lost consciousness on the floor and called an ambulance. After ten minutes, when the ambulance arrived, paramedics performed resuscitation by conducting CPR and using a defibrillator for thirty minutes, all the way to Samphran Hospital, before doctors pronounced her dead.
Samphran Hospital then transferred the body of the deceased to Siriraj Hospital for an autopsy. The medical witness stated that an external examination of the body revealed no wounds. The autopsy revealed abnormalities in the left ventricle of the heart, blood spots in the lungs, and fatty deposits in the liver, all of which indicated that the body had suffered abnormalities from oxygen deprivation. The causes of such symptoms could include the deceased's own cardiac muscle, an alkaline electrolyte imbalance in the body, or exposure to a toxic substance. However, a cyanide test is a specific test and cannot be detected through a general examination. Nevertheless, upon reviewing the treatment records from Samphran Hospital retrospectively, it was found to be possible that the cause was cyanide poisoning.
The deceased's husband testified that the defendant had known the deceased since 2014 and that he had seen the defendant come to the house on multiple occasions. On the day of the incident, the deceased was going to the market with the defendant. Shortly afterward, the deceased returned home and said she was not feeling well before losing consciousness. The husband was unable to contact the defendant, so he called the deceased's older sister. The sister later contacted the defendant via Facebook chat, and it was subsequently found that the defendant had sent a message via Line to the deceased on the evening of 12 December 2020, stating that she would go to Samphran Market and eat khao man kai on the morning of 13 December 2020.
The court therefore found that the medical and toxicology expert witnesses had conducted a thorough autopsy and examination and had no prior grudge against the defendant; they were therefore believed to have testified truthfully. The attending physician at Samphran Hospital and the forensic pathologist found several abnormal details indicating that the deceased suffered oxygen deprivation in the heart tissue, lungs, and fatty liver, pointing to cyanide poisoning. All witness testimonies were consistent with the account given by the deceased's husband regarding her symptoms. The prosecution's evidence was therefore credible in establishing that the deceased had been poisoned with cyanide.
The defendant was in close proximity to the deceased within a timeframe consistent with the onset period of cyanide. After the deceased separated from the defendant and returned home, the deceased exhibited convulsions, rigidity, foaming at the mouth, and loss of consciousness — symptoms of cyanide poisoning. This indicated that the defendant had introduced cyanide into the deceased's body, possibly by mixing it into food or drink.
The court therefore found that the medical and toxicology expert witnesses had conducted a thorough autopsy and examination and had no prior grudge against the defendant; they were therefore believed to have testified truthfully. The attending physician at Samphran Hospital and the forensic pathologist found several abnormal details indicating that the deceased suffered oxygen deprivation in the heart tissue, lungs, and fatty liver, pointing to cyanide poisoning. All witness testimonies were consistent with the account given by the deceased's husband regarding her symptoms. The prosecution's evidence was therefore credible in establishing that the deceased had been poisoned with cyanide.
Although the defendant argued that no witness had seen her mix a toxic substance into the deceased's food or drink, the court found that the nature of such an act reflected careful preparation and planning, making it not easily observable by others.
As for the motive behind the killing, it was because the defendant had borrowed 60,000 baht from the deceased and never repaid it, and had also invited the deceased to join three savings circles, from which the total dividend payout would have amounted to approximately 200,000 baht, but the deceased died before receiving it. It was subsequently found that the defendant held multiple bank accounts linked to online gambling websites and had debts of several million baht, leading the court to conclude that she wanted to kill the deceased in order to eliminate the debt. The prosecution's evidence carried substantial weight and established beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the offences as charged. The defendant's evidence was insufficient to rebut the prosecution's evidence.
The court ruled that Mrs. Saratat, or Am, the defendant, was guilty. As her act constituted a single offence under multiple provisions of the law, she was sentenced under the most severe provision — premeditated murder for the purpose of obtaining or retaining a benefit arising from another offence she had committed, or to conceal another offence, or to evade punishment for an offence she had committed — and was sentenced to death.
A reporter covering the proceedings noted that Am appeared bright-faced and smiling inside the courtroom, and spoke with her lawyer from time to time. During the reading of the verdict, she stood and listened with a composed expression. Sittra Biabgerd was also present to lend support and attend the verdict reading. As for the relatives of the deceased, after the court handed down the death sentence, they embraced one another and wept tears of joy.
In the Am Cyanide case overall, the court has now sentenced her to death in 2 cases, to life imprisonment in 2 cases, and acquitted her in 3 cases, out of a total of 15 cases filed by the prosecution — 14 charges of murder and 1 charge of attempted murder.
