Presenter ponders suit
TV news presenter Kanchai “Noom’’ Kamnerdploi is threatening to counter-sue a social activist after police indicated he could face charges in relation to his battle with a high profile lawyer which has come unstuck.
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| Noom |
Social advocate Atchariya Ruangrattanapong earlier this month declared he would sue Noom for wading into his dispute with celebrity lawyer Sittra Biebangkerd, prompting Noom to complain the activist was unfairly trying to constrain him from presenting the news impartially.
Noom, who fronts two news shows on Channel 3, had delved into a police complaint brought by Mr Sittra in which he accused the activist and two senior police from Bang Pa-in station in Ayutthaya of improperly obtaining private records about a couple and leaking it to Mr Atchariya, who posted them online.
A police panel in Ayutthaya has now found that the activist and police indeed acted improperly, and have passed on the file to the National Anti-Corruption Commission. The police involved, superintendent of Bang Pa-in station, Pol Col Rit Sirithep, and the deputy head of investigations, Pol Lt Col Ruangyot Kaysornbua, have been transferred.
Various celebrity lawyers chimed in to Mr Atchariya’s row with Noom. Responding to news of the panel’s findings, which appear to turn the tables in the dispute, Noom last week contacted high-profile lawyer Decha Kittiwithiyanan to say he was mulling a counter-suit.
Mr Decha, who runs a page called “Thanai Khlai Thuk” (lawyer who eases your burdens), earlier sided with Noom, saying Mr Atchariya had gone too far and was bound to withdraw his suit before long.
He said: “Noom contacted me to say that if the court throws out Mr Atchariya’s suit, who will take responsibility? He is trying to stop him from doing his job of reading the news, and is now thinking about counter-suing to make his point,” he said on Facebook live.
The Ayutthaya police panel found Pol Lt Col Ruangyot was wrong to dig up a private citizen’s records and release them, and Mr Atchariya wrong to encourage him to break the law.
The complaint was brought by Mr Atchariya’s one-time friend and now bitter rival, Mr Sittra, who is fighting a broader battle with the activist after he accused him of seeking a bribe from a couple involved in a fraud case in Samut Sakhon, and allegedly encouraging police to give favourable testimony in a drugs case involving his client, actress Amelia “Amy” Jacobs, last year. Mr Sittra denies both claims.
Mr Sittra complained to Bang Pa-in police and the Crime Suppression Division about the case. He said the deputy head of investigations at Bang Pa-in station had dug up records about the wife of a client, Seth Dechsupa, and passed it on to the activist, which was improper use of private information.
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| Amy and her boyfriend, caught with the drugs |
Mr Atchariya, who believed incorrectly that Mr Dechsupa was the head of a web page, Red Skull, which was causing him bother, spread the details online to discredit his wife, resulting in threats of bodily harm.
Worse, after he laid an initial complaint with Bang Pa-in police, Mr Sittra said he had uncovered evidence the officer involved had improperly attempted to alter the police record after the event to make it look as if Mr Atchariya had laid a complaint about the web page.
The Ayutthaya panel upheld both the complaint that the officer had improperly leaked details to the activist, and altered the police record to cover his tracks. In his midday news show which upset the activst, Noom examined in forensic detail changes made to the police record and pointed to various irregularities which the panel has now upheld.
Responding to the findings, Mr Atchariya claims Mr Sittra released the police record improperly, a claim he denies. In any event, the NACC is now looking into the matter.
Charges against the activist, who heads a crime victims’ club which routinely levels claims of corruption and improper behaviour against police, lawyers, doctors and various other officials, could well result.
Mr Atchariya, a former engineer studying law, accuses Mr Sittra of hiring himself out recklessly to defendants in drug cases, chasing legal fees at any cost and betraying his principles as a lawyer.
Mr Sittra, for his part, says Mr Atchariya disrupts police inquiries and challenges court convictions to make a name for himself, regardless of the cost which officials, in many cases doing their duties honestly, have to bear.
The two have laid police complaints against each other in recent weeks, wage battles on social media and recently have stepped up their campaigns to appear on TV shows, including Noom’s.
One motivating factor behind the dispute between Mr Atchariya and Mr Sittra, who is secretary-general of a group called the Foundation for People’s Lawyers, is the rewards at stake which lawyers and other advocates chase in the social media age as they court public popularity.
Mr Sittra, who wears jeans and a T-shirt when he fronts the camera at police stations and the like, is widely seen as a net idol, which has upset some of the more traditionally-minded in the legal set. The row continues.
Actress’s private grief
Actress Aerin Yuktadatta is speaking out for sufferers of depression after a close friend, actress Susira “Susi” Naenna, lost her farang fiance to the disease last month.
Fronting the media tearfully last week, Aerin said Susi’s boyfriend of six years, to whom she was engaged to marry, an American known as Christopher, took his life in Chiang Mai last month.
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| Susi |
She said the family had released few details about his death, as they want to keep the matter private. She said Christopher, who worked in EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) for the Navy Seals, was stressed about his job and had suffered from depression for years. He died in an ambulance on the way to hospital after making the attempt on his life.
Aerin said Chris had moved from the US to pursue his future here. The two had planned to marry and start a family over the next year or so, but depression claimed him first.
“This is not the first time he had tried to take his life, but previously Susie had been able to pull him out of it. She tried to show him her love, but with this disease you can’t predict what will happen,” Aerin, who says she herself suffers from depression, told reporters.
“Susie is grief-stricken and not ready to talk so has asked me to speak on her behalf. She is with her mother and two elder sisters who are giving her support. I have also been up to see her and we talk every day,” she said. “She is in a bad way, and goes to church every week.”
Aerin said Chris’s younger brother and a friend have flown to Chiang Mai and will take his body back to the US, where he will get a funeral with military honours.
Aerin said she was close to Chris, and met him most recently over New Year. “Susi would say to him that whenever he felt sad he should call, but you can but do your best. You might be able to save him today but not every day.
“The first step first is you have to admit you are unwell. It’s doesn’t mean you are mad, but you should seek help. Don’t think society will scorn you or that depression is a fashionable illness. I have lost many friends to death from depression, but you can still find help,” Aerin said.
Rocker cranks into gear
Rocker Sek Loso’s lover is hailing his return to the concert stage after a lengthy battle with bipolar disease.
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| Eve, Sek |
Former model Apisaya “Eve” Pattanaworasap took to Facebook last week, hailing his return to work after Sek last week performed at Ban Rahad Nam in Samut Prakan, his first time on the concert stage since being released from hospital in December last year following treatment.
“On the day he was released, the doctor told me he had looked after Sek so that the man I love had returned to the way he was. He asked if I was happy with the outcome,” Eve wrote.
“After last night’s concert, I would like to say I have also looked after Sek and helped him return to the man of old. He may not be 100 per cent but he is trying his best and doing a good job,” she said. Eve added he was nervous about taking the stage again as he was worried he couldn’t do it. Fans have piled in offering the couple support.
Eve’s FB posts also show Sek’s merchandising business cranking back into gear, with his branded guitars on sale, and staff sending off Sek Loso T-shirts by post. The renewed burst of activity comes after media reports that Sek, laid low for months by his illness, had run out of money, forcing him late last year to offer for sale 5 rai of land he holds in the Lad Phrao area.
His ex-wife, Wiphakorn “Kan” Sukpimai, took advantage of the occasion to renew demands for 700,000 baht she says he owes in school fees.
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