PHUKET: Singaporean Diana Goh Li Fun and four people she hired to kill a Canadian property developer on Phuket have been sentenced to life in prison, Phuketwan has learned.
Goh and the four have begun serving their sentences in Nakhon Si Thammarat because Phuket Provincial Prison only holds inmates serving 15 years or less.
The murder of Canadian Francis Alex Degioanni outside his Patong home on his 34th birthday in February 2009 shocked Phuket's expat resident community.
Ms Goh, who was for a time granted bail before her murder trial on Phuket, organised the professional ''hit'' on her former colleague in a dispute over property and money.
February 19, 2009, was Mr Degioanni's 34th birthday. He was all set to join friends who, unknown to him, had prepared a surprise birthday cake.
As sunset closed in outside a new three-storey block of townhouses, Mr Degioanni parked his dusty black pickup, with his lucky 7777 numberplate.
Alongside the Degioanni office-home, with its glass windows and vertical blinds, the proprietress of the four-storey My Living Room hotel smiled as she saw two strangers approaching on foot, thinking they might be incoming guests.
Degioanni's fiancee, Fern Pencharoenwatana, was out of the pickup and opening the door of the office-home when the two men drew level with the driver's side window.
Eight shots were pumped at Mr Degioanni through the window before the killer and an accomplice fled on a motorcycle. Degioanni's young child, from a previous relationship, was reportedly also in the cabin of the pickup.
Phuket police were swift in catching the culprits.
Officers painstakingly sifted through Phuket resort and hotel records until they came upon the four men who had booked into a hotel near Simon Cabaret in Patong, not far from the murder scene.
When presented to the media at Kathu Police Station in Patong in early March, Diana Goh Li Fun brushed her hair forward to cover her face. When asked to identify herself, Goh raised her hand, although her face remained covered by her hair.
Those sentenced to life with Goh were the gunman, and friends of Goh who helped her find the gunman.
A total of 1.5 million baht was paid for the killing. The gunman received 200,000 baht.
Mr Degioanni's murderers were sentenced on December 29, Phuketwan has learned.
Degioanni, a former model in Bangkok, had been doing business in Phuket for five years, selling condominiums to tourists. A sixth case invovling another alleged accomplice is still pending.
The murder was followed four days later by a second expat murder, causing great concern across Phuket. The killer who battered Ian Kenneth Stuart, 60, to death in his apartment near Tesco-Lotus in Phuket City has never been caught.
Goh and the four have begun serving their sentences in Nakhon Si Thammarat because Phuket Provincial Prison only holds inmates serving 15 years or less.
The murder of Canadian Francis Alex Degioanni outside his Patong home on his 34th birthday in February 2009 shocked Phuket's expat resident community.
Ms Goh, who was for a time granted bail before her murder trial on Phuket, organised the professional ''hit'' on her former colleague in a dispute over property and money.
February 19, 2009, was Mr Degioanni's 34th birthday. He was all set to join friends who, unknown to him, had prepared a surprise birthday cake.
As sunset closed in outside a new three-storey block of townhouses, Mr Degioanni parked his dusty black pickup, with his lucky 7777 numberplate.
Alongside the Degioanni office-home, with its glass windows and vertical blinds, the proprietress of the four-storey My Living Room hotel smiled as she saw two strangers approaching on foot, thinking they might be incoming guests.
Degioanni's fiancee, Fern Pencharoenwatana, was out of the pickup and opening the door of the office-home when the two men drew level with the driver's side window.
Eight shots were pumped at Mr Degioanni through the window before the killer and an accomplice fled on a motorcycle. Degioanni's young child, from a previous relationship, was reportedly also in the cabin of the pickup.
Phuket police were swift in catching the culprits.
Officers painstakingly sifted through Phuket resort and hotel records until they came upon the four men who had booked into a hotel near Simon Cabaret in Patong, not far from the murder scene.
When presented to the media at Kathu Police Station in Patong in early March, Diana Goh Li Fun brushed her hair forward to cover her face. When asked to identify herself, Goh raised her hand, although her face remained covered by her hair.
Those sentenced to life with Goh were the gunman, and friends of Goh who helped her find the gunman.
A total of 1.5 million baht was paid for the killing. The gunman received 200,000 baht.
Mr Degioanni's murderers were sentenced on December 29, Phuketwan has learned.
Degioanni, a former model in Bangkok, had been doing business in Phuket for five years, selling condominiums to tourists. A sixth case invovling another alleged accomplice is still pending.
The murder was followed four days later by a second expat murder, causing great concern across Phuket. The killer who battered Ian Kenneth Stuart, 60, to death in his apartment near Tesco-Lotus in Phuket City has never been caught.
Great news. I was wondering what happened to this lot, i thought for a minute that it was pushed under the carpet.
Posted by Nick on March 19, 2012 22:27