6th-September-2006
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 Life for woman who BBQs husband and feeds him to tigers | |
Quote:
Life for woman who BBQs husband and feeds him to tigers
The Thai woman who arranged for her English ex-husband to be barbecued and had his remains scattered around a tiger sanctuary was jailed for life today.
Pannada Charnaud, 35, was led in chains to the cells after a judge told her that even though she had not dealt a blow she had arranged the death of Toby Charnaud, 41, "just as if she had struck him herself."
Three other defendants, relatives and neighbours recruited for the murder from her home village of Yasothon, north-east Thailand, were also sentenced to life imprisonment for premeditated murder.
As she was led away, Pannada said: "I have no comment. I just want to see my son.î
Pannada, who is now using her maiden name Laoruang, had denied premeditated murder. Her coconspirators, Boontin Puipong, 31, Sattri Sripatum, 28, and Nipit Satabut, 27, admitted murder with provocation.
Body parts of Mr Charnaud, a former Marlborough College pupil, were found in Kaeng Krajan national park, one of the last refuges for Thailand's tigers, in April last year after Pannada reported her ex-husband was missing.
The court in Petchaburi, 100 miles west of the Thai capital Bangkok, was told that Mr Charnaud had divorced Pannada because of her gambling debts and had been awarded custody of their son Daniel, now seven. He allowed Pannada visiting rights but on 27 March last year he failed to return home after setting out to collect Daniel from Pannada's home on the edge of Kaeng Krajan.
A subsequent investigation revealed that the three other defendants had been waiting for him at her home. They tried to shoot him with an antiquated long barrelled musket but it backfired. They then beat Mr Charnaud to death with iron bars and a lump of wood.
The killers placed his body on an already prepared charcoal barbecue then cut up his cooked remains and spread them around the tiger reserve.
Judge Sarawut Busayanan said: "While the murder was being committed Pannada took their son to the market. Although she was not present at the killing that does not mean she is not equally as guilty as the other defendants.
Mr Charnaud had sold Latimer Farm, near Chippenham, Wiltshire, after falling in love with Pannada, whom he met in a bar in Bangkok in 1997. They went to live in the Thai resort of Hua Hin, where he bought two bars to run with his new wife.
In a letter to the court his mother, Sarah Charnaud, 70, said: "Toby was a wonderful father to his son and it is so unfair that a small boy has been deprived of a great father and a father has been deprived of seeing his son grow up.
"We welcomed Toby's ex-wife into our home and family until they moved to Thailand and to repay us by murdering my son is beyond my comprehension.î
Mr Charnaud's sister, Hannah Allen, who is now caring for his son, said today: "I am glad justice has been done. But it will of course not bring back Toby.
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Life!! 
The fact that she got life even though she 'had not dealt a blow' shocks me, but this trial did not take place in a western country, so that would be the reason why.
If it was in a western country, she probably would not have even got a prison sentence, even if she had been the one who killed him.
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