A woman in Thailand has been sentenced to death for the murder of her friend by poisoning her with cyanide.
Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, 36, faces accusations of murdering 14 friends with cyanide, with this case marking the first conviction in the series.
Authorities discovered traces of the poison in 32-year-old Siriporn Khanwong’s body in April last year, and further investigation revealed similar deaths dating back to 2015.
A court in Bangkok convicted Sararat on Wednesday.
“The court’s decision is just,” Siriporn’s mother, Tongpin Kiatchanasiri said after the verdict. “I want to tell my daughter that I miss her deeply and justice has been done for her today.”
Sararat, a gambling addict, reportedly targeted friends she owed money to. In one instance, she extorted up to 300,000 baht (nearly £6,800) before murdering her victims and stealing their jewellery and mobile phones.
Deputy national police chief Surachate Hakparn said: “She asked people she knows for money because she has a lot of credit card debt … and if they asked her for their money back, she started killing them.”
Police allege she tricked 15 people, one of whom survived, into consuming poisoned “herb capsules”. Sararat is set to face 13 additional murder trials and has been charged with nearly 80 offences overall.
Sararat’s ex-husband Vitoon Rangsiwuthaporn, a former police lieutenant-colonel, was given 16 months in prison and her lawyer two years for complicity in Siriporn’s killing and for assisting her in evading prosecution.
Despite being divorced, the couple continued living together, according to the BBC.
Police suspect Vitoon was complicit in Sararat’s alleged murder of her ex-boyfriend, Suthisak Poonkwan. Authorities claim that after the killing, Vitoon assisted Sararat by picking her up in her car and helping her extort money from Suthisak’s friends.
The court ordered Sararat to pay Siriporn’s family compensation of 2 million baht (£45,446).
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