Man jailed for 26 years for murdering six-month-old stepson, concealing body
The Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced a man to 26 years and three months in jail for murdering his six-month-old stepson and concealing the body in September last year, and for abusing methamphetamines.
The court initially sentenced Witthawat Jitthanopajai, 23, to life imprisonment on the murder charge, but commuted it to 25 years behind bars because he had pleaded guilty and cooperated with investigators.
He was initially sentenced to two years for concealing the body and six months for abusing meth, but the terms were reduced to one year and three months respectively because he had also pleaded guilty to those charges.
The court was told that Witthawat had murdered his stepson during the night of September 8 last year.
He suffocated the baby after placing him face-down on his bed, putting a blanket and a pillow over him, and then lying on top of him for 30 minutes.
Witthawat and the baby’s mother, Karnchana Thossawang, then put the body in a basket under some clothes and left it in a deserted plot on Soi Ratchada Niwet off Pracha Uthit road, in Bangkok’s Huai Khwang district.
After pleading guilty, Karnchana was earlier sentenced to two years and three months in jail for helping her husband to conceal the body.