Unwanted house call
Kongjak
Kongjak Phuliangpha, 69, who faces three charges in relation to the slaying, said he acted in self-defence as he feared Ampol Ponwaewwow, 34, wanted to kill him. He shot the man outside his home on June 20.
He denies having hatched a plan to kill Ampol, who had visited his house earlier that day and harassed his daughter and grandchild.
He is getting support from an unlikely source, after Ampol’s father pleaded with police to reconsider their charge, saying his son deserved to die.
Sombat Ponwaewwow, 54, said his bare-chested, drunken son, shot dead about 100m from their home in Klang Muen, Muang district, was a substance abuser well-known for flying into drunken rages and tormenting the village.
On the day of his death he took his campaign of drunken intimidation too far, turning up twice outside Mr Kongjak’s home. The first time, his daughter and granddaughter were there alone, and neighbours shoo-ed the aggressor away.
The second time, in early afternoon, Mr Kongjak was at home alone. He said Ampol turned up with a gun, smashed his front door window pane, and aimed the weapon at him.
Mr Kongjak, fearing for his safety, grabbed a gun of his own, closed his eyes, and fired two shots, intending to scare him. However, one shot hit Ampol in the chest, killing him. When police arrived they found the body in a pool of blood still clutching the weapon.
Ampol was carrying a Thai-modified long-barrelled gun. His father Sombat, while admitting his son liked causing trouble, said he does not know where Ampol found the weapon.
“I have never seen my son with a gun before and I don’t know where it came from. Nor did I see Ampol go off to harass Kongjak.
“I am not upset that Kongjak killed him as we are relatives, but I am puzzling over the gun.
“My son has to ask me for money to pay for his drinking habit, so I don’t know where he would find the money for a weapon,” he said.
Mr Sombat said his son had also attacked him in the past, though he was more likely to damage household items.
He was washing his son’s clothes at the back of the house when the shooting occurred down the road. Earlier, Ampol had asked him for 50 baht for a drink.
A local shopkeeper, Eed, sold him a half-bottle of Thai spirits for 30 baht about 1pm, when CCTV footage shows Ampol turning up with his shirt still on and looking sober.
Eed said Ampol came back shortly before 2pm and asked for more alcohol, which he put on credit. The CCTV vision shows Ampol, by now shirtless, weaving about drunkenly. He set off for Mr Kongjak’s place shortly after.
Mr Kongjak said he was inside when Ampol turned up, clutching his gun and threatening to kill him. He had paid an earlier visit last December, when he smashed Mr Kongjak’s front door and damaged his car, leaving him with a 10,000 baht repair bill.
On June 20, the old man said he saw Ampol aiming his weapon at him from outside so grabbed his own gun and fired. “If I hadn’t shot him I would have died,” he told police.
Somjai Ubpong, 51, who lives opposite, said he heard the shots but thought it was firecrackers going off as a funeral was underway at a nearby temple.
She didn’t hear the sound of any confrontation but knew Ampol liked harassing Mr Kongjak. Ampol had also turned up in drunken rages outside her place, though he hadn’t damaged any property.
Shopkeeper Eed, 42, said Ampol arrived one night over New Year demanding he open the shop. “I refused as it was late, so he took a spade from out front and attacked the shop with it, leaving holes.”
Despite Mr Sombat’s pleas for leniency towards the killer, Kalasin police charged Mr Kongjak with premeditated murder, firing a weapon in a public place without good reason and having weapon in his possession without a permit. Mr Kongjak denied the first charge, but admits the last two. The case continues.
Inundated with aid
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| Noppadon, Patty |
Nong Patty, aged nine, left a brief post on Facebook saying she and her father had barely eaten for three days and asking well-wishers for help. She left her address and father’s phone number.
Her father, Noppadon, from the Wimanmaen community in Muang district, said a recent accident forced him to stop working, with the result he was no longer able to provide for his family. Worse, his wife left after an argument, taking the family motorcycle and their youngest child, aged four.
He has been unable to track her down. While he was recovering at home with an injured arm, he and Nong Patty made do with three simple meals a day of boiled rice and sauce.
Mr Noppadon, a contract labourer on building sites, said he knew nothing about Nong Patty’s post and was surprised when locals started turning up with dried goods and other help. His phone was also inundated with calls.
While most locals were sympathetic, some netizens claimed he was exploiting his daughter to make a living. Mr Noppadon, who declined to give his last name to the media, said the claims hurt him as they were not true.
A second-hand motorcycle business was among well-wishers who turned up. Posting images of Mr Noppadon’s unadorned home, staff confirmed the pair had “nothing” to their name but for two handfuls of rice. One poster appealed for help buying them a fridge.
A TV crew who turned up said both father and daughter looked stressed. Mr Noppadon thanked the public but said he no longer needed help. He was not upset with his daughter for reaching out, but now they just wanted to get on with their lives.
He said Nong Patty has her own FB account which she keeps on his phone. She checks job noticeboards for contract work every morning and if she finds a vacancy lets her father know.
On the morning she posted her appeal he did not check his phone again and was shocked when people started arriving at his house.
He also appealed to his wife to get back in touch. She had taken the motorcycle which he needs to get to work and take Nong Patty to school.
Young Patty herself, undeterred by the publicity created by her begging post, weighed in on FB, appealing to her mother to return the bike.
On June 19, she posted a picture of her Mum and the bike. “Anyone who knows my Mum Phrae, please have her return our motorcycle. Dad needs it to take me to school. I know you don’t love me, Mum, you just love the little one. But I want to go back to school.”
Well-wishers posted job offers to help her father get back on his feet. However, one suggested that he might quietly turn to friends and family next time he runs out of money to spare the fuss.
Elephant turns school taxi
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| The boys on the elephant |
Pongput Ngamlert, a computer studies teacher at Ban Yawuek School in Chumphon Buri district, filmed the unusual sight of the nine-year-old male elephant, Seedokhunngern, lumbering towards the school with the boys aged 11, 13 and 15 on its back.
Surachai Inphong, 34, the elephant’s owner, said the boys help him tend a rice field about 1km away. He also raises Seedokhunngern, no stranger to locals as the elephant is hired out regularly for weddings, ordination ceremonies and house-warming functions to bring good luck.
However, with the onset of Covid, such events had dried up. Mr Surachai decided that with classes re-opening after many months, he would liven up the boys’ first day on June 14 by taking them to school. They happily climbed on the elephant’s back for the short trip down the road. He escorted the elephant as traffic police cleared a path for them.
The clip shows the elephant stopping outside the school to pay respects to a teacher by lifting one front leg and putting it across the other. The teacher responds by giving the elephant a wai.
Inside the school, Seedokhunngern bends down so the boys can slide off its back. Later Mr Surachai took the animal for a wander so the other kids could play with it.
Amporn Sornboonchu, the headmistress, said it was the first time an elephant had dropped children off at the gate.
Mr Surachai said Seedokhunngern is good natured and loves kids. In Tha Tum district where he raises the beast, it was nothing unusual to see mahouts take their elephants along local roads to the fields.
“They come back in the evening, travelling in a straight line even when there are many of them. There is no need to ride on their back, you can just guide them with a motorcycle, as they are raised almost as part of the family,” he said.
The school was along the route he would normally take his elephant so asked the kids if they wanted a ride.
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