Governor’s killer sent back to jail
A former army officer jailed for murdering the Yasothon governor in 2001, and who was out on parole, was arrested in Bangkok yesterday after breaking the terms of his parole.
Chalermchai Matchaklam, who was freed from Bang Kwang Central Prison last year, was nabbed as he was leaving home in Bodinthraksa Village in Wang Thonglang district. Police pounced on the former major as he was about to get into a car outside the townhouse he lived in with his wife and children.
The move followed a Justice Ministry order issued on Wednesday calling for Chalermchai’s arrest because he breached parole regulations by travelling outside permitted areas on several occasions, police said.
The ministry had also received complaints from residents in Chanthaburi who claimed the former officer extorted money from them.
The Crime Suppression Division (CSD) conducted the arrest in which acting CSD chief Pol Maj Gen Charn Wimolsri ordered Pol Col Arun Wachirasrisukanya, head of the CSD’s Sub-Division 2, to head the operation.
Chalermchai was later sent to Nonthaburi Provincial Prison.
In 2006, the Supreme Court upheld rulings from the primary and appeal courts which handed down the death sentence against Chalermchai who was convicted of the 2001 murder of Preena Leepattanapan, who was the then Yasothon governor. He was later stripped of his military rank.
Chalermchai avoided the death penalty after he was given four royal pardons which progressively commuted his death sentence to life and then a jail term of less than 18 years.
He was released early from the jail in Nonthaburi on Sept 30 last year for good behaviour and for having served more than two-thirds of his jail term.
Following his release, Chalermchai was required to report to probation officers in Nonthaburi throughout the remaining period of his sentence.
Preena was found dead in his room at the Royal Pacific Hotel on Rama IX Road in Bangkok on March 5, 2001. Chalermchai and two accomplices were staying in two rooms at the hotel at the time of the murder.
Traces of Preena’s blood were found in all three rooms and on the brake pedal of Chalermchai’s car, police said.