Prosecutors reject police report against Siam Paragon shooting suspect

BANGKOK: Public prosecutors have rejected a police investigation report in the Siam Paragon mass shooting incident involving a 14-year-old boy, the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) said on Thursday (Dec 28).

The office’s deputy spokesman, Naken Thongpraiwan, said the prosecutors discovered that the police had started interrogating the suspect and filed five charges against him before an expert psychiatric evaluation by the Galya Rajanagarindra Institute, where the boy had been sent for treatment.

According to Naken, police investigators had failed to follow the Criminal Procedure Code when they started questioning the teen suspect before obtaining a psychiatric evaluation report from the institute, particularly regarding the young suspect’s mental health and his ability to stand a court trial.

“Public prosecutors have not considered the police investigation report as per its content. We saw that the investigative process was not in line with the law, so we sent the report back to the police to do it lawfully,” the deputy spokesman said.

Naken said that as per the law, police questioning must be carried out when the young suspect is mentally sound and capable of standing trial in court.

He added that the investigators could then complete the questioning and submit the investigation report to prosecutors again before the case’s 20-year statute of limitations ends.

The shocking mass shooting at the Bangkok luxury mall occurred on Oct 3, leaving three people dead and four others wounded. A Chinese tourist and a Myanmar worker were among the fatalities.

The Pathumwan Police Station, which was investigating the case, filed five charges against the suspect – premeditated murder, attempted murder, shooting in a public place, possession of unauthorised firearms, and carrying firearms in a public place without a permit.

The police submitted their investigation report to public prosecutors on Dec 20.

According to Naken, it was found that the police had filed their charges against the boy and started questioning him on Nov 3 before the Galya Rajanagarindra Institute had completed its evaluation on the suspect’s mental health and his ability to stand trial.

The institute submitted its evaluation report to the police on Nov 21, which stated that the teenager was found to have no understanding of the charges against him, and was unable to control his emotions and behaviour.

The report concluded that the young suspect had no ability to stand trial in a court, according to the deputy spokesman. – The Nation/ANN