The court on Friday handed down its sentence by video link to Thon Buri Remand Prison where the accused killer was being held. The verdict rejected the feeble defence pleas that the 22-year-old daughter and mother he brutally murdered, had died due to a dumbbell accidentally falling off a shelf and hitting her in the chest area or that the woman had angered the accused by demanding to end their relationship and return to her former husband.
A Thai court on Friday handed down a life sentence to Mr Apichai Ongwisit also known as ‘Ice Metal Casket’ for the brutal murder of his 22-year-old girlfriend at his home in the Bang Khae district of Bangkok.
A Thai court on Friday brought the curtain down on one of the most chilling murders in recent times when it sent down an evil monster for life.
The Thon Buri Criminal Court issued its verdict on Friday concerning the murder and torture of 22-year-old Warinthorn Chaiyachet at a date between August 4th and August 6th 2019 at the substantial home of her killer in the Bang Khae district of Bangkok.
4th jail term for Apichai Ongwisit in less than a year including terms for drug dealing, rape and murder
The court sentenced Apichai Ongwisit to life imprisonment. It was the fourth substantial jail term handed down to the defendant who heard the verdict read out under the watchful eye of prison guards at Thon Buri Remand Prison as the hearing was held by video link due to Covid-19 precautions.
This was the killer’s fourth conviction and jail term, this year, starting with a 10-year and 5-month term in March last year for drug offences, an eleven-year stretch for the rape of a young woman at gunpoint handed down on December 30th and another drug-dealing conviction in recent days where a sentence of 25 years was imposed.
Mother of the victim and young daughter awarded ฿2.9 million in compensation in a civil legal case
The family of the victim, Ms Warinthorn, in this case, on Friday, requested that the term of imprisonment for life be added to the man’s previous convictions on a consecutive basis.
Ms Warinthorn’s mother, Sukdaporn Chaiyachet, had applied successfully to become a plaintiff in the trial proceedings and she and the victim’s young daughter were both awarded compensation by the court of ฿2.9 million which will be enforced against the killer’s estate as a civil matter.
‘Ice Metal Casket’ and his beautiful girlfriend ‘Kukkik’ had filed a complaint against a third party with police weeks before she disappeared in 2019
Thai local media named the 41-year-old drug dealer and sadistic murderer ‘Ice Metal Casket’ last year because of the bizarre nature of this killing but there is evidence that it is not the only murder committed by the sadistic pervert at his mansion where police later found the remains of three bodies in a pond at the property.
Locals were terrified of the owner who told them it was populated by flesh-eating fish.
The reason for the infamous killer’s sobriquet is linked to the tale of this murder where the 41-year-old Mr Apichai brutally killed his girlfriend.
It has emerged that police were, in fact, seeking Ms Warinthorn also know as ‘Kukkik’ at the time of the murder as both the defendant and his victim had weeks previously, filed a criminal complaint against a man for harassing her.
The young woman was known to be extremely beautiful.
Verdict gives insight into what happened at the killer’s house of horror in Bang Khae in August 2019
The court’s verdict on Friday gave some insight into what happened on the night in August 2019 at Mr Apichai’s house of horror.
It is understood that he attacked the young woman with an iron bar causing her, at some point, to develop a serious injury in the right cavity of her chest area which later led to her death according to a police autopsy report on her recovered remains.
Mr Apichai then tortured her after binding her at the hands and ankles and placed her in a metal casket which he kept in his bedroom for such a purpose.
He told police that he had attacked his girlfriend and placed her in the container in a fit of anger after she suggested that she wanted to end their relationship and return to her previous husband. He said that the next morning he found her dead.
The court rejected his claim that he was angry or that her injury had been caused by a dumbbell that fell off a shelf as the two engaged in a violent fracas.
Convicted of murder and ordering his accomplices to dispose of the young woman’s body in the garden
He was convicted for murdering the young woman and of instructing accomplices to dispose of her body by burying the metal container within his grounds. He was also convicted of interfering with the young woman’s body.
The discovery of the full extent of Mr Apichai’s crimes only came to light after one of his accomplices was collared by police for drug dealing and volunteered information on his boss.
He also came to police attention after they rescued a young woman at his Bang Khae home in December 2019 after Mr Apichai raped her at gunpoint.
He was sentenced by the Thon Buri Criminal Court for this crime on January 4th last.
Father also a killer
The sadistic and cruel streak appears to run in the family. In 1983, Mr Apichai’s father, Chaloemchai Ongwisit, the owner of the Ongwisit market was arrested and charged with the murder of a young girl whose body was dismembered.
Mr Chaloemchai was later shot and killed while police also suspected Mr Apichai’s mother had a role in the murder. She later fled Thailand with his sister.
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Further reading:
Sadistic murderer ‘Ice Metal Casket’ sentenced for rape of a woman at gunpoint in latest conviction
Ministry asks Covid-19 unit to halt travel from the UK over new ‘Kent’ strain found among a family
