The Thai Appeals Court on Tuesday handed a life sentence to an army officer for his role in the contract shooting of a Thai Premier League football referee in a Bangkok car park in 2013.

Sgt. Major Sirisak Chanruang, 56, had previously been acquitted by the primary court over the attack by a hired gunman that left referee Sgt. Thanom Borikut seriously wounded.

The charge stated that Sirisak and two others hired now-deceased getaway motorcyclist Kosin Srinuankhan and gunman Sukhum Dangkulwanich – now 34 and still at large – for Bt100,000 (US$2,820).

Thanom was gunned down in the Sports Authority of Thailand car park in Bangkok’s Bang Kapi district on Sept. 4, 2013. 

Although Sirisak was acquitted on Aug. 26 last year due to insufficient evidence, the Appeals Court on Tuesday ruled that Kosin, who died in June aged 22, had confessed and implicated Sirisak as the person who hired him and Sukhum. His confession gave details that only someone who was at the scene of the deal would have known, it ruled.

The court also said the prosecutor’s evidence was convincing. This included details of the defendants’ cellphone use and Sirisak’s request for Thanom’s household registration information for a “weapon trade case investigation” prior to the shooting.

Sirisak, who attended the Appeals Court hearing with his family and a group of friends, said he would appeal to the Supreme Court. His daughter broke down in tears and hugged him before he was taken away by the Corrections Department.

Family members said they were preparing a bail application pending the appeal.