No confidence in the rule of law

Former national shooting star Jakkrit Panitphatikam has become the latest victim of what police believe to be hired assassins. A gunman on a motorcycle killed him in a drive-by attack last Saturday night as he was driving his Porsche. Police suspect a personal conflict could be the motive. 

Local football referees have also been targeted recently by gunmen, though luckily none has been killed. There have been other recent shootings by hired hitmen – some of them unreported, possibly because the victims were not “high-profile” enough.

Personal conflict is a major reason behind gun attacks in Thailand. Clearly there are people who opt to hire gunmen to settle scores with enemies rather than seeking a personal, non-violent resolution or simply calling the cops and leaving it to the courts. The unavoidable conclusion is that these people do not trust the justice system – or view the legal process as too costly in time and money.

Hitmen in police custody have admitted to being paid Bt10,000 to Bt200,000 to pull the trigger, depending on the difficulty involved, even Bt1 million in rare cases. 

A 62-year-old man who was long on the list of wanted gunmen claims to have killed 70 people in his career. He was arrested recently after murdering a married couple – not for pay but out of anger.

There have been cases, again rare, in which the masterminds were arrested after the hired killers incriminated them. According to the law, a person who hires someone to kill another person is subject to the same penalty as the perpetrator, which is death by execution. However, the rich and powerful escape this fate, assisted by legal loopholes and corrupt officials in the justice system. More often, of course, arrested gunmen refuse to finger their employer, possibly due to fear for their own safety or that of their family.

In the rarest of cases, a wealthy or powerful person behind a gun attack has been jailed. This usually only happens when the victim is a foreigner and the government of his home country places intense pressure on Thai authorities to find the culprits. 

There was one case when the gunman revealed the mastermind’s identity after he became aware that his victim was widely respected and not a bad person, as his employer had told him. It’s difficult not to grasp at such news as a sign of hope in this sordid business.

But is there any real hope that we can reduce the number of contract killings in Thailand? It could only happen if the law was fairly and strictly enforced and officials of the justice system, particularly the police, perform their duties in an honest manner. That is a big “if”. Prospective masterminds behind assassinations will only be deterred if they know that diligent and thorough police investigations will track them down. And only with that will the demand for hired guns decline accordingly.