Section 308 — Abandonment causing death
English translation
If the commission of the offence under Section 306 causes the death of the abandoned person, the offender shall be punished with imprisonment from one year to ten years and a fine from twenty thousand Baht to two hundred thousand Baht.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified — always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 308 is the death-result form of the basic abandonment offence in Section 306, the same offence that Section 307 aggravates for grievous bodily harm. It applies only where the Section 306 abandonment is the cause of death, so the prosecution must establish both the underlying offence and a causal link to the death. Note the penalty structure: unlike Sections 306 and 307, the fine here is mandatory and cumulative (imprisonment and a fine), not an alternative. The graded scheme runs from Section 306 (basic offence), to Section 307 (grievous harm), to Section 308 (death), reflecting increasing culpability by the consequences that follow from leaving a dependent person exposed to danger.
Why this matters in practice
This is the gravest tier of abandonment, carrying a mandatory minimum of one year in prison plus a fine, with a ceiling of ten years. Because death is the aggravating result, causation is usually the decisive contested issue: was death caused by the abandonment, or by an independent illness or event. The offence is not compoundable, so a settlement with the family affects only sentencing, not whether the case proceeds. Given the mandatory imprisonment and the difficulty of causation evidence, early online consultation with a Thai lawyer is important both for a defendant and for a complainant family.
Frequently asked questions
What penalty applies when abandonment causes death?
Under Section 308, imprisonment from one to ten years together with a fine from 20,000 to 200,000 Baht. The fine is imposed in addition to imprisonment, not as an alternative.
Is Section 308 a form of homicide?
No. It is a result-aggravated abandonment offence: liability rests on the abandonment under Section 306 causing death, not on an intent to kill.