Five criminal charges, including premeditated murder, have been filed against the 14-year-old male suspect in the shooting spree at the Siam Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok yesterday (Tuesday).
The other charges are attempted murder, possession of a firearm without a license, carrying firearms in public without permission and discharging a firearm in public.
The suspect, whose identity is being kept confidential, has been taken to the Central Juvenile and Family Court, to seek approval for further detention while the investigation continues.
After the suspect surrendered last evening, he was questioned by police for several hours, in the presence of social workers and a psychiatrist because he is a minor.
Sorawit Limparangsri, spokesman for the Courts of Justice, said today that, under the law, the police can detain a suspect who is a minor for 24 hours for initial questioning, after which the suspect must be released or presented to a court. The court will review his psychological condition, his treatment and parental care when determining whether he should be further detained, released or placed under the care of social welfare officials.
According to Section 74 of the Thai Criminal Code, a minor, aged up to 15, is exempt from penalties if they are found to have committed an offence. The court can, however, formally warn the young offender and serve a warning on their parents before the release.
Alternatively, if the court believes that the parents can look after the offender, it may impose conditions on them, to make sure that the offender does not commit any further offence for three years and the parents would be fined up to 10,000 baht each time an offence is committed by the minor.
Then again, the court may place the offender in an educational institute, a training centre or a mental health care centre for a period to be set by the court, but only up to when the offender reaches 18.
Dr. Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director of the Medical Services Department, said that the suspect has been treated for mental problems since February, at the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health in the Children’s hospital, adding that he might also have been treated at other hospitals before that.
The Forensic Medicine Institute at the Police General Hospital said today that relatives of the two victims who died can now claim the bodies, as the autopsies have been completed.
