Thai court upholds jail term for murder of Japanese teacher

BANGKOK, January 30 (TNA) - Bangkok's Appeals Court has upheld a 20-year jail term imposed on a Thai woman for deliberating on the murder and hiding the body of a Japanese teacher and stealing his money. The Thai woman, Pornchanok Chaiyapa, was convicted along with her husband, Somchai kaewbangyang, who was handed down a death sentence by the Lower Court but it was reduced to a life sentence due to his confession to the crime and he did not appeal. The 79-year-old Japanese male teacher, Yoshinori Shimato, was killed and dismembered, with parts of his body put in plastic bags and dumped into a canal in Bangkok's adjacent Sumut Prakarn Province. The convicted couple used the victim’s credit cards to withdraw the money. The incidents occurred during September 21-October 13, 2014. The Thai court also ordered 45,000 baht in cash and another sum of 720,000 baht, withdrawn from the victim’s accounts, to be returned to the Japanese victim’s son. (TNA)