Threatening Violence to Escape Arrest Turns Theft into Robbery คำพิพากษาฎีกาที่ 1408/2512: ขู่เข็ญเพื่อให้พ้นการจับกุมทำให้ลักทรัพย์เป็นชิงทรัพย์

DÉCISION DE LA COUR SUPRÊME N° 1408/2512
Année : 1969 (BE 2512)
Relevant Code Sections: Criminal, Section(s) 334, 339

RÉSUMÉ
The defendant stole a buffalo, abandoned it when the owner caught up, and drew a gun on the owner who was still chasing him to make an arrest. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction for robbery under Section 339, holding that a threat of violence used to escape capture, continuous with the theft, elevates theft to robbery even though the property had already been abandoned.

FAITS DE L'AFFAIRE
L’accusé a volé un bison et, lorsque le propriétaire l’a poursuivi, il a sorti une arme à feu pour empêcher ce dernier de récupérer son bien.

DÉCISION DU TRIBUNAL
The defendant stole a buffalo. The owner pursued him and, when the owner had closed to within about ten wa, the defendant abandoned the buffalo and ran. The owner kept after him in order to arrest him, and the defendant drew a gun and aimed it at him. Threatening violence in order to escape arrest, immediately continuous with the theft, makes the offence robbery under Section 339. It does not matter that the defendant had already given up the stolen property before he drew the weapon.

ANALYSE JURIDIQUE
The value of this case is that it separates two things that are easy to run together: keeping the loot and getting away.

The defendant's argument on appeal was that he should have been convicted of simple theft, because he was alone and did not fire. The Court did not answer it on those terms. What mattered was that the pursuit and the threat were one continuous episode with the taking, and that Section 339 covers force or threat used for either of the purposes it lists, including escaping arrest.

So the buffalo being abandoned is not a mitigating fact and does not reduce the offence to theft. On these facts it is the clearest illustration of the point: the property was already back within the owner's reach when the gun came out, and the offence was still robbery.

IMPLICATIONS PRATIQUES
La fraude et le vol nécessitent la preuve d'une intention spécifique. Tous les accords doivent être clairement documentés. Les étrangers sont fréquemment victimes de fraude en Thaïlande.

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Note : Ceci est un résumé en anglais du jugement original thaïlandais.
Pour le texte thaï officiel, veuillez vous référer à la version thaï ci-dessus.
ou visitez deka.supremecourt.or.th.