UPDATE: Court sentences British man who murdered and chopped up Thai woman
At 1:30pm this afternoon, Kanchanaburi Provincial Court sentenced Shane Kenneth Looker to 8 years in prison for murdering Laxami “Look” Manochat in 2014. The court ordered Shane to pay a total of 12.5 million baht to Look’s family.
The court initially sentenced 51 year old Shane to 16 years imprisonment but cut the sentence in half because he confessed to the crime.
Shane wasn’t present in court but listened to his sentence via video call from Kanchanaburi prison.
Look’s mother and daughter were present at the court today to hear the court’s verdict, alongside representatives from the British embassy.
The court said several witnesses saw Shane and Look together on the last night Look was seen alive. In addition, traces of Shane’s DNA were found in samples taken from Look’s fingernails.
Shane confessed to murdering Look, stuffing her body inside a red suitcase and dumping her into the Mae Klong River.
The court ordered Shane to pay 10.5 million baht to Look’s mother and 2 million baht to Look’s daughter, with interest of 5% per annum starting from 2014, until the money is amount in full.
SOURCE: KhaoSod
ORIGINAL STORY: British man who murdered and chopped up Thai woman to be sentenced tomorrow
Tomorrow, the court will announce the fate of a British man who murdered and dismembered a Thai woman, stuffed her in a suitcase and dumped her body in the Mae Khlong River eight years ago.
On November 6 2014, police discovered the body of 31 year old Laxami “Look” Manochat inside a suitcase dumped in the Mae Klong River in Kanchanaburi province, central Thailand. Her body was cut into pieces, but she was still wearing black stilettos, a black dress and underwear.
Clear CCTV footage allowed police to quickly identify Look’s murderer, now 51 year old Shane Kenneth Looker from Stoke-on-Trent in England. The pair were pictured walking through a hotel together on Sukhumvit Soi 5 on November 1 2014, after Shane picked up Look from a bar in the Nana area of Bangkok where she worked as a prostitute. Look was not seen again after that night.
Later that week, Look’s body was discovered inside a red “Pology” suitcase in a river in Kanchanaburi.
Police believe Shane murdered Look on the night of November 1, before leaving for Hua Hin where he owned a property. It is believed he spent weeks lying low in Hua Hin before crossing over into Malaysia by train. Then, he flew to Ibiza in Spain where he owned another holiday home. It is not clear how Look’s body ended up in Kanchanaburi.
Kanchanaburi Provincial Court approved an arrest warrant on January 28 2015 for Shane’s arrest, on charges of “murdering and hiding, moving or destroying a body in order to conceal the death or cause of death.”
However, Shane had already fled to Spain, where he was arrested in June 2017 and remanded in custody. After years of appeals from Shane’s legal team, he was finally extradited from Spain and sent back to Thailand in July last year “to face justice.” Police met him at Suvarnabhumi Airport, handcuffed him and detained him.
Tomorrow at 1:30pm, Kanchanaburi Provincial Court will read the verdict of Shane’s sentence, eight years after Look was murdered. At first, Shane said he “categorically had absolutely nothing to do with this woman’s murder.” However, he has since allegedly admitted to all charges.
Shane is expected to receive a lengthy prison sentence, but will probably not face the death penalty as Thai authorities reportedly offered assurances under EU law that he wouldn’t face the death penalty if found guilty. It is unclear whether he will be taken out of prison to hear the verdict at Kanchanaburi Provincial Court tomorrow.
SOURCE: KhaoSod