A case for second foreign forensic expert .... Part 3

What Sin Chew didn't report. Who said citizen journalism is on a decline? Read the following excerpts from Dr Pornthip: More Questions by Alizul:

The Hangthong Thammawattana Case
Picture shows DR SUPOJ JAMSUWAN displaying documents relating to the third autopsy carried out on Hangthong Thammawattana, which concluded that he committed suicide. Click here for link.

In September 1999, Hangthong Thammawattana was found shot in his younger brother’s (Noppadol Thammawattana) bedroom clutching a gun in his hand. Hangthong Thammawattana was the administrator of his family’s vast fortunes.

The first autopsy conducted by the Thai police found that Hangthong committed suicide. The case was closed as a suicide.

Dr Pornthip did not agree to the police findings. Her team, which included Scottish pathologist Dr Adrian Linacre, then conducted a second autopsy and concluded that Hangthong was murdered. Dr Pornthip went public in announcing her findings. Noppadol was subsequently arrested in 2003 for allegedly conspiring to murder his elder brother Hangthong.

In his defence, Noppadol sought and obtained court permission for the third autopsy that took place on January 2006. The third autopsy was headed by Sawet Kanluan, a forensic pathologist based in Chicago, and was jointly carried out by a team of forensic physicians from five universities a month later. The findings of the third autopsy was consistent with the first, i.e. suicide. The team also included American criminalist Henry C. Lee, who likewise concluded that Hangthong's death was a suicide.

Interestingly, the experts who conducted the third autopsy are people who had taught Dr Pornthip (i.e. they were her teachers!). In his testimony in court, Dr Supoj Jamsuwan, deputy head of Chulalongkorn University’s Department of Forensic Medicine, said

"...respected experts from Chulalongkorn, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai and Mahidol universities had jointly conducted the third autopsy. 'Some of them are those who have taught Khunying Pornthip, Supoj said. Without mentioning anyone by name, he said someone viewed Thailand’s forensic science as lacking standards and had tried to set the standards herself.

Dr Supoj was, needless to say, referring to Dr Pornthip when he alluded to "someone...had tried to set the standards herself."

Consequently, Noppadol was acquitted of Hangthong's murder by the Thai Criminal Court. The court ruled that substantial evidences showed that Hangthong committed suicide.

Read all H E R E.
Quincy ME and Bones are mentioned here by Barking Magpie.