Apartment fight turns deadly
The scene at the apartment |
Tenants Naphat, 36, and his partner Ratchayu, 46, (no surnames given) fled the scene of the horror beating in Bang Lamung district on Dec 30, leaving apartment supervisor Thaworn Watthana, 53, dead in the carpark.
Bang Lamung police, who called in the couple, say the pair called a gang of 10 or so supporters in two pickup trucks. The group attacked Thaworn for 10 minutes, leaving him with fatal head injuries, over an unpaid rent bill.
Thaworn had presented the couple, who moved in on Dec 10, with a bill for the full month’s rent of 2,600 baht.
Naphat, who signed the contract, said the owner agreed to give them the room for half the normal price, as they had been there less than a month. Thaworn, however, insisted they pay the full month and started abusing them when they objected, he claimed.
Ratchayu and Naphat called in by police |
A steel pipe was found nearby after the 10 arrivals fled the scene, to be followed shortly after by Naphat and Ratchayu.
CCTV images caught one gang member carrying a large pair of wire cutters, though he denied hitting Thaworn when called in by police. Another man was seen with a large knife.
The CCTV images show members of the gang milling about the scene, and Thaworn and his tenants arguing.
Thaworn’s wife, Prapai Watthana, 50, pleaded with the mob to spare her husband after the gang downed him with a punch.
She said that when they signed the contract they were told they’d be billed in full, but were determined to move in anyway.
After the pair objected to the bill, Thaworn said he’d call the apartment owner, and the two sides split up. He went out to repair a water pipe. Ratchayu left, then returned to the condo entrance to await the arrival of her friends.
“My husband asked me to get the contract, and by the time I returned she had summoned the gang,” Ms Prapai said.
She overheard Ratchayu claim her husband had abused the pair and asking her friends to beat him up.
Naphat and Ratchayu deny that version of events, though they admit their side started attacking Thaworn first.
However, Ratchayu claims he lunged at her and only changed his mind when her husband Naphat appeared.
Thaworn, she claimed, had called up a group of four or five of his own friends to attack the pair — a claim which TV news presenters dismissed as unlikely.
Her husband called on their friends to help because they feared for their safety, Ratchayu claimed. “I saw the victim fall to the ground but didn’t think he was dead. When I saw the news the next day I was shocked,” she said.
“We didn’t flee, but simply went to stay with friends. We had decided to pay his hospital bills if he needed care,” she said.
According to Naphat, the couple decided to move out when presented with the bill, so they merely asked their friends around to help gather their belongings.
“However, when they arrived an argument broke out. I had nothing to do with the attack and didn’t hit the guy,” he claimed. TV news cameras showed they left plenty of their stuff behind in their haste to leave.
Bang Lamung police insisted they took part in the beating themselves. “Two of the arrivals, called Ekk and Nu, attacked first, and during the commotion, Naphat joined the jam,” one investigator said. Police were rounding up the other attackers.
Police charged the couple with jointly attacking someone resulting in his death.
The pot was on the boil
Thanom wielded a knife and big stick to kill Panda |
An elderly man in Chaiyaphum will lose the company of his three pet dogs after he killed a passing American Bully in the hope of turning him into a New Year’s treat.
Phu Khiao police nabbed Thanom (no surname given), 69, after he killed a local’s dog, Panda, when it wandered past his ramshackle place on Dec 29.
On his first journey past the house, Panda, who lives with his owner nearby, was walking behind a group of children from the local temple. However, when he walked back he was alone.
Thanom, who fancied the look of him because he was fatter than the stray dogs he normally eats, grabbed him and cut his throat. The dog struggled and freed himself from the man’s grasp.
His owner, Charoon Charoenkhun, 62, who had headed out looking for her dog, found Panda lying injured by the side of the road. She took her pet to the vet, but he was unable to save the dog.
Panda |
News reports say he was building a fire and putting a pot on the boil in which he hoped to cook Panda’s remains.
He planned a sizzling menu of tom khao, or black dog soup, which was apparently popular with the Hainan Chinese who settled in the district 100 years ago.
Describing his plans with a little too much relish, perhaps, the reports also said he planned a finger food dish of sun-dried dog meat, to go with his New Year drinks.
Talking to reporters, who remarked that Thanom seemed drunk, the old man said he usually eats dogs killed in road accidents, or strays which have died. In this case, he made the mistake of killing a dog which has an owner.
She contacted police, who liaised with Watchdog, the animal care group. At the group’s behest, Livestock Department officers paid the old man a visit and confiscated the three dogs he raises at his house to have them neutered.
They will also find the animals a new home, as they are worried for their safety if they stay with the suspect. Thanom was charged with cruelty to animals and damaging someone else’s property (the dog).
Novice thief comes off bike
Natthawut after coming off his bike |
A snatch and grab thief in Bangkok met his comeuppance when he was hit by a motorcycle as he tried to make his getaway.
Bang Khen police nabbed Natthawut (no surname given), 25, for stealing a handbag carried by Bow (no surname given), 49.
She was about to get on her motorcycle after shopping at the Pla Khao fresh market when the thief struck.
Natthawut, who said he thought her handbag looked expensive and was bound to be carrying a bundle of cash and valuables, grabbed it from behind and raced off. However, he did not make it past the mouth of soi Phaholyothin 61 in Anusaowaree, where the robbery took place, when he was struck by an oncoming motorcycle.
The thief, who claims this was his first offence, was knocked off his bike and hit his head on the pavement with heavy loss of blood. Passers-by held him until police arrived. Police, who charged him with theft, said the bag contained just 200 baht. The theft victim was unhurt.