Section 314: Supporting a kidnapping for ransom

Firm annotation

Section 314 contains a single rule, and it is a departure from the general part of the Code: a supporter in the commission of an offence under Section 313 is liable to the same punishment as a principal in that offence. Ordinarily a supporter is punished under Section 86 at two thirds of the penalty for the offence supported. Section 314 removes that reduction for kidnapping for ransom alone, so a driver, a lookout or a person who supplies a safe house faces the same exposure as the kidnapper: fifteen to twenty years and a fine of 300,000 to 400,000 baht, or imprisonment for life, or death, rising to death alone where the victim dies. The section does not create an offence of its own and adds no elements; whether the accused is a supporter rather than a principal or a co-principal is decided by the ordinary rules in Sections 83 and 86. Section 316 applies to a Section 314 offender as well, so a supporter who arranges the victim's release before the judgment of the court of first instance, without grievous harm or imminent danger to life, must have the punishment reduced to not less than one half.