Section 290: Assault causing death
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดมิได้มีเจตนาฆ่า แต่ทำร้ายผู้อื่นจนเป็นเหตุให้ผู้นั้นถึงแก่ความตาย ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่สามปีถึงสิบห้าปี ถ้าความผิดนั้นมีลักษณะประการหนึ่งประการใด ดังที่บัญญัติไว้ในมาตรา ๒๘๙ ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่สามปีถึงยี่สิบปี
English translation
Whoever, without intent to kill, injures another person so that that person dies, shall be liable to imprisonment from three to fifteen years.
Where the offence has any of the characteristics described in Section 289, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment from three to twenty years.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 290 sits between intentional murder and negligent homicide: it punishes an intentional injuring of another where the offender had no intent to kill but death resulted. Its elements are an intent to injure, an act of injuring, and a resulting death that flows from that act. The absence of intent to kill is what separates it from Sections 288 and 289, while the presence of a deliberate act of injury separates it from the negligence offence of Section 291. Because it is a result-aggravated offence, general-part rules can extend liability: a co-principal who joined an assault answers for the death, and a death caused by mistaken aim (aberratio ictus) is reached through Section 60. Assault causing death is often the lesser offence a court finds proven when a murder charge fails on the intent-to-kill element.
Why this matters in practice
For a defendant this section is often the more favourable outcome when the prosecution cannot prove intent to kill, since exposure drops to three to fifteen years rather than the murder range. The decisive contest is therefore over intent, judged from the weapon, the force used, and the part of the body targeted. Note that joining a group assault can make a person liable for the death as a co-principal even without striking the fatal blow, so participation is itself a serious risk; the firm's overview of criminal law in Thailand gives context.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
-
Supreme Court Judgment No. 3978/2567 (2024)
Where offenders intended only to injure but the victim died, liability lies under Section 290 for assault causing death, not murder; a co-principal answers for the shared result, including a death caused by mistaken aim through Section 60.
Having joined from the outset in beating the first victim, the defendant was liable as a co-principal for assault causing death under Section 290 paragraph one; the death of the second victim by mistaken aim made him liable under Section 290 with Section 60, both being lesser offences included within the charged murder.
-
Supreme Court Judgment No. 234/2567 (2024)
The intent to injure a child causing death under Section 290 is separable from the intent to commit a sexual offence, so the two are distinct offences punished as separate counts.
The defendant was convicted of assault causing death under Section 290 as an act of domestic violence; the Supreme Court held this intent was separable from the intent behind the rape charge, making them separate counts.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 186 Supreme Court decisions (1958 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 9126/2560 (2017)
- Decision 3463/2560 (2017)
- Decision 420/2560 (2017)
- Decision 10065/2558 (2015)
- Decision 12110/2556 (2013)
- Decision 2367/2556 (2013)
- Decision 6798/2554 (2011)
- Decision 5131/2554 (2011)
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 288 126
- Section 78 92
- Section 83 84
- Section 295 44
- Section 91 43
- Thai CrPC s. 192 26
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 290?
Imprisonment from three to fifteen years for injuring another person, without intent to kill, in a way that causes death.
How is Section 290 different from murder under Section 288?
Section 290 applies where the offender intended only to injure, not to kill, but the injury caused death. If intent to kill is proved, the case is murder under Section 288.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 290 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 290. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-290/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 290 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-290/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-290/"><p>Whoever, without intent to kill, injures another person so that that person dies, shall be liable to imprisonment from three to fifteen years. Where the offence has any of the characteristics described in Section 289, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment from three to…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 290 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-290/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.