The Siripongs family fractured when Siripongs' father, a wealthy opium and timber trader from northern Thailand, divorced his mother when Siripongs was an infant. With little money and 4 children to raise, Siripongs' mother, Hansa, split up the family, sending him and his sister to live with an uncle who operated a brothel out of his home. In 1975, Siripongs was shot in the forehead while burglarizing a Bangkok department store with his cousin. After his 2-year prison term was cut in half for good behavior, Siripongs spent 3 months living as a monk in a Bangkok temple. His teacher, Phra Kru Vichitrasadhuvatra, said in court documents that Siripongs was among his best students.
Prosecutors agree that Siripongs did suffer extraordinary hardships.
But so have many children, they add. Tanizaki said the murders were brutal and savage, and that Siripongs has never expressed any remorse for the killings.