Section 289: Aggravated murder
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใด (๑) ฆ่าบุพการี (๒) ฆ่าเจ้าพนักงาน ซึ่งกระทำการตามหน้าที่ หรือเพราะเหตุที่จะกระทำ หรือได้กระทำการตามหน้าที่ (๓) ฆ่าผู้ช่วยเหลือเจ้าพนักงาน ในการที่เจ้าพนักงานนั้นกระทำตามหน้าที่ หรือเพราะเหตุที่บุคคลนั้นจะช่วยหรือได้ช่วยเจ้าพนักงานดังกล่าวแล้ว (๔) ฆ่าผู้อื่นโดยไตร่ตรองไว้ก่อน (๕) ฆ่าผู้อื่นโดยทรมานหรือโดยกระทำทารุณโหดร้าย (๖) ฆ่าผู้อื่นเพื่อตระเตรียมการ หรือเพื่อความสะดวกในการที่จะกระทำความผิดอย่างอื่น หรือ (๗) ฆ่าผู้อื่นเพื่อจะเอา หรือเอาไว้ซึ่งผลประโยชน์อันเกิดแต่การที่ตนได้กระทำความผิดอื่น เพื่อปกปิดความผิดอื่นของตน หรือเพื่อหลีกเลี่ยงให้พ้นอาญาในความผิดอื่นที่ตนได้กระทำไว้ ต้องระวางโทษประหารชีวิต
English translation
Whoever:
(1) murders an ascendant;
(2) murders an official in the performance of his duties, or by reason of his being about to perform or having performed his duties;
(3) murders a person assisting an official in the performance of the official's duties, or by reason of that person being about to assist or having assisted the official;
(4) murders another person by premeditation;
(5) murders another person by torture or by an act of cruelty;
(6) murders another person in order to prepare for, or to facilitate, the commission of another offence; or
(7) murders another person in order to secure or retain a benefit obtained through another offence he has committed, to conceal another offence of his own, or to escape punishment for another offence he has committed,shall be liable to death.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 289 is the aggravated-murder provision built on the base offence of Section 288, carrying a single mandatory penalty of death. It lists seven aggravating circumstances: premeditation, cruel means, killing an ascendant, killing an official or a person assisting an official in connection with duty, killing to prepare for or facilitate another offence, and killing to obtain the benefit of, conceal, or escape punishment for another offence. Each circumstance reflects a heightened culpability, whether through planning, brutality, the status of the victim, or the connection to further crime. Where the aggravating fact concerns the victim's status, the offender must know that fact to bear the heavier liability, applying the general knowledge rule of Section 62.
Why this matters in practice
Because Section 289 fixes a single penalty of death, whether a case is charged under it rather than Section 288 is the highest-stakes issue in a homicide file, and each of the seven circumstances is proved separately on the facts. For circumstances tied to the victim, such as killing an ascendant or an official, the prosecution must show the accused knew that status; that knowledge requirement (Section 62) is a recognised line of defence. These cases demand the strongest possible representation from the outset; the firm's overview of criminal law in Thailand provides context.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 6876/2568 (2025)
A person who fires a gun foreseeing that the bullet may strike his mother is deemed to know the fact that increases the penalty under Section 62, and is guilty of attempted killing of an ascendant under Section 289(3).
The defendant fired toward approaching footsteps near his house; the Supreme Court held he could foresee the bullet might hit his mother and therefore knew the aggravating fact under Section 62, making him guilty of attempted murder of an ascendant.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 853 Supreme Court decisions (1960 to 2026)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 6190/2567 (2024)
- Decision 322/2567 (2024)
- Decision 264/2567 (2024)
- Decision 179/2565 (2022)
- Decision 3328/2562 (2019)
- Decision 7758/2560 (2017)
- Decision 8845/2559 (2016)
- Decision 20031/2556 (2013)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
- Section 288 573
- Section 78 455
- Section 91 450
- Section 83 447
- Section 80 396
- Section 52 273
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
What is the penalty under Section 289?
Aggravated murder under Section 289 carries a single mandatory penalty of death.
What makes a killing aggravated murder under Section 289?
Any of seven circumstances: premeditation, cruel means, killing an ascendant, killing an official or an official's helper in connection with duty, killing to facilitate another offence, or killing to secure, conceal, or escape another offence.
Must the offender know the victim is an ascendant or official?
Yes. Where the aggravating fact concerns the victim's status, the offender must know that fact to bear the heavier liability, under the knowledge rule of Section 62.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 289 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 289. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-289/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 289 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-289/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-289/"><p>Whoever: (1) murders an ascendant; (2) murders an official in the performance of his duties, or by reason of his being about to perform or having performed his duties; (3) murders a person assisting an official in the performance of the official's duties, or by…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 289 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-289/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.