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

SUPREME COURT DECISION No. 1408/2512
Year: 1969 (B.E. 2512)
Relevant Code Sections: Criminal, Section(s) 334, 339

SUMMARY
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.

FACTS OF THE CASE
The defendant stole a buffalo and, when the owner chased him, the defendant drew a gun to prevent the owner from recovering the property.

COURT'S HOLDING
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.

LEGAL ANALYSIS
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.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
Theft becomes robbery the moment force or a threat is used to keep what was taken or to get away. The defendant abandoned the stolen buffalo and ran, then pointed a gun at the owner who was still chasing him to make an arrest, and that was enough for robbery under Section 339 even though he acted alone and never fired. What is done to escape capture while the taking is still running is treated as continuous with the theft, not as a separate and lesser matter.

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Note: This is an English-language summary of the Thai original judgment.
For the authoritative Thai text, please refer to the Thai version above
or visit deka.supremecourt.or.th.