School brings out big guns
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| Pinya |
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| Wai |
A teenager’s brutal attack on a fellow student at a Surat Thani school has angered netizens after the school urged parents to expunge video clips of the incident and district authorities later asked the victim to forgive the offender.
The attack by a Mattayom 2 student known in the media as “Champ” on fellow student, Ekkawit Nong “Wai” Thongpuak, 14, at Wat Khao Sri Wichai School in Phunphin on Jan 20 left the victim with a broken left arm, bruising over his body and stab wounds.
Champ, largest in the class and known as the class ringleader, took exception to remarks by the boy and started attacking him. The incident took place during the school lunch break, the form teacher apparently having abandoned the boys in the classroom without supervision.
The clip shows a large group of boys watching as Champ kicks Wai repeatedly while the boy is on the floor. Champ, who also hit the boy with a chair and stabbed him three times in the ribs with a modified pair of scissors which he keeps with him as a weapon, only relented when Wai agreed to offer an apology at his feet.
Classmates said the argument started when Champ, who was teasing Wai, slapped him over the head twice. Wai responded saying he would get his friends to hit him back, which sent Champ, who has a history of beating kids in class and is related to Wai, into a rage.
The drama came to light when a relative of Nong Wai’s posted to social media two clips of the assault, which boys in the classroom took on their phones.
“Where were the teachers, and how they could let it happen? It was too violent...who will take responsibility?” Wai’s relative asked in the Facebook post. “At the moment Wai is waiting for an operation. If this happened to a relative of yours, would you accept it?”
The boy’s father, Pinya Thongpuak, 40, said he heard about the attack from neighbours and turned up at the local hospital opposite the school to find his son crying, his arm in a huge cast, and alone. His classmates, not teachers, took him to the hospital.
He was later transferred to Surat Thani hospital where doctors kept him in emergency for two days.
Mr Pinya said he was horrified by the attack, as it shattered his impressions of the school. “When my wife and relatives showed me the clips, I started to feel angry and sad,” he told reporters.
“I have always thought of school as a second home, and teachers as like parents. If a teacher hits my child to discipline him I have never thought anything of it. But this incident looks like they have simply abandoned their duties.
“Since the incident, no teachers have followed up to see how Nong Wai is doing. The tambon hospital where he was treated initially is just across the road from the school,” he told the media.
Mr Pinya went to see the school to complain. The headmaster offered to meet Nong Wai’s medical expenses if his family agreed to delete the clips, as the publicity risked hurting the school’s reputation. Mr Pinya, who is unhappy with the way the school treated the incident, declined to commit.
“I haven’t agreed to anything, especially after hearing the other family has posted a clip boasting that Champ would likely escape with a couple of days juvenile detention. This makes me fear for the safety of my son if he has to go back and study there. I am scared he will come under pressure in various ways but have not thought about transferring him,” he said.
Champ’s family had been in touch through relatives offering 30,000 baht in damages if they would settle.
His wife, Lookpla Chamnongpan, 38, went to police only to be told they would not accept a complaint. They had her leave an account of what happened and told her to come back in 15 days when her son was well enough to answer questions.
Mrs Lookpla said she would talk to her husband about any decision to pursue criminal charges. At the very least, she said, they would have to hear from Champ’s parents. By Thursday, her son’s condition had improved and doctors let the boy go home to rest. If the bones of his left arm do not set he is likely to need further surgery, she said.
Champ’s father, Sonthaya Samosorn, 45, came under attack from netizens after he dismissed the incident as a case of the two boys “playing too roughly”.
He said that as Champ’s father he was willing to take responsibility, but seemed dismayed the other side was talking about taking further action.
“I want it to stop here. I don’t want it to head to court as I am concerned about the future of the boys,” he said. Mr Sonthaya said he had spoken to his son and apologised to all involved, including Wai’s parents.
The head of the school said he had asked for an account from the form teacher, and also reported to the local Primary Educational Service Area.
Amid the media publicity, the district chief officer, accompanied by the president of the tambon and form teacher, on Wednesday visited Nong Wai in hospital. The trio asked him to forgive Champ, as he may not have been aware of his actions.
The boy said his arm hit the door frame when he was thrown against it, which might explain the break. He was prepared to be friends again, but asked Champ not to hit him.
Netizens are unhappy with the part played by the district authorities, asking why they saw fit to get involved and whether Champ’s parents are well connected.
They are unhappier still with the boy’s father for his casual remarks dismissing the attack as mere “play” which got out of hand.
“Let that kid ‘play’ with me and I will show him what real pain is like,” one netizen wrote. “I suspect this kid likes to bully his friends; if you don’t nip it in the bud now, by the time he grows up he might slap his parents around too. He might even turn into a menace to society.”
Another posted: “The chief district officer has nothing to do with it. Charge that kid with criminal assault and get him locked up.”
Divorce suit set in train
Country music singer “Jeab R Siam” Benjaporn is making good on her threat to divorce her young husband after he took off with another woman, declaring she is also seeking 3.5 million in damages from the pair.
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| Fluke, Jeab |
Jeab, 48, accompanied by lawyer Kamolphu Sawasdisan, filed divorce papers with the Family Court in Chumphon earlier this month against her husband, Thawatchai “Fluke” Kongmun, 21.
The pair were married last May but Fluke quickly went off the arrangement, claiming later that Jeab had pressured his family to help pay off her informal debts.
The row started when Jeab, 48, posted to Facebook on Dec 9 saying Fluke had gone missing for three days from their Surat Thani home and appealed to fans for news of his whereabouts.
News later emerged that he had made off with his new girlfriend, “B”, while Jeab was away for a few days in Bangkok. Jeab said she discovered Fluke was seeing B on the side when her family complained to police in Chumphon on Dec 13 claiming Fluke had called a lavish pre-engagement function only to pull out at the last minute, leaving them with the bill to pay.
Fluke fled the ceremony after it became clear that he was still married to Jeab. The singer spent the next few days arguing with her estranged husband’s family through the media about who contributed more financially to the relationship, after it became clear the two would not reconcile.
Speaking at the court, Jeab said she has not heard from her husband or B since the saga broke. “I warned last time that if I did not hear from them I would start legal action,” she said. Fluke has stopped seeing B since fleeing the ceremony.
“I am seeking damages from both parties related to damage to my reputation, dowry, the cost of our bridal home and marital assets, which together come to 3.5 million baht. Fluke helped with cost of building the home but I paid for most of it,” she said. The saga continues.
Missing cash riddle
Actor Sornram “Noom” Theappitak is keeping fans in the dark about a complaint to police that someone withdrew 450,000 baht from his bank account without his consent.
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| Tik, Noom |
Noom alerted Sutthisan police in Din Daeng on Jan 16 to the missing cash. Kasikorn Bank, with whom he has the account, later came out to declare that a person close to him had withdrawn the money at an ATM. The news sparked speculation on social media about who had taken the money.
The bank said it notified Noom about his account the day before, with the news presumably prompting Noom to visit police. However, he has since declined to tell the media who was involved, saying he will reveal further details later this week.
“I don’t want people thinking it was someone in my family,” he said, when asked about CCTV images which show the person withdrawing the cash is a woman. Police have asked the bank for its records, security footage, and called in those involved.
Meanwhile, Noom and his wife Kanissarin “Tik” Patcharapakdeechot have continued posting pictures of themselves and their young child as if nothing has happened, while declining to add to the reports.
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