Killer fends off dead wife’s spirits
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| Earth |
Ronnarat “Earth” Porpon, 50, an animal husbandry officer at the District Livestock Office in Nong Sung, Mukdahan, admitted killing his wife, beautician Wassana Hahlak, 41, and dumping her body in Kalasin after an argument on July 30.
Police arrested him on Aug 5 after they identified the body. Locals found Wassana’s body two days before but without any identifying details. The discovery was reported in the media.
Mr Earth told police he followed the news reports closely. Earlier, he destroyed her phone and ID card in a fire. On Aug 1 he also moved out of the house in Kamcha-ee sub-district where he killed her and rented a place nearby to help cover his tracks.
Her father, Jamnian Hahlak, who knew Wassana was missing, also saw the news reports, but at first did not realise it was her, despite recognising the towel in which her body was wrapped, and the T-shirt she was found wearing.
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| Wassana |
They also drew a match with her fingerprints when they ran a cross with her house registration papers. They identified Mr Earth as a suspect just as he was mulling over handing himself in, he told police later.
The couple had a history of quarrelling and had broken up two months before. However, Mr Earth called Wassana that night and asked her around for a drink.
Suspicious he was seeing someone else, she grew jealous and abused his family. Mr Earth claims she slapped him, and he kicked her in response.
He sat over her body, strangled her, and grabbed a hammer and nail from inside the house. The couple had bought the place together just two months before.
In a bizarre twist which some have likened to a superstitious rite popular in the Northeast, he hammered the nail into her left temple to transfix her “spirit” to stop it haunting him. Others, more prosaically, say he simply wanted to make sure she was dead.
That done, he grabbed some rope from inside his car and tied her hands together behind her back, pulled her T-shirt over her head, and stripped her to her underwear.
He stuffed the body in the boot of his Toyota, and made the 20km journey to a roadside spot close to Wat Pa Ratchaphruek in Kuchinarai, Kalasin.
He dumped the body in forestland, wrapped in a towel, and carried on to a friend’s place in Nong Sung for a drink. He left there around 5am when he went back to visit his wife’s body to see if anyone had found it yet.
Following his arrest, Mr Earth took police back to the scene to reconstruct it. Media images showed Mr Earth, who appeared animated under questioning, as if he enjoyed being the centre of attention, pointed to his car boot where he stuffed his wife’s body.
He had attached to the inside of the boot two Buddha images and an inscribed cloth, like a talisman, which relatives say were designed to protect him from his wife’s vengeful spirit. Mr Earth was a believer in superstition.
Mr Jamnian, her father, said they had been together a year, and Mr Earth had started abusing her about six months into the relationship.
She told him recently she was planning to move to Sakon Nakhon for work, which relieved Mr Jamnian, as he did not want Wassana seeing Mr Earth. However, it was too late. Police charged him with assault causing death, and disguising a body.
Just another BMW drive-by
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| Ole |
Decrachata “Ole” Chanpuan, 23, admitted shooting Phattaranit Singkwa, 23, on Aug 6, after seeing him drinking in the village. He said Mr Phattaranit had defrauded him of 10,000 baht in a crypto currency venture, and taunted him about it on the Line app.
Mr Phattaranit was drinking with his girlfriend and another young man outside a closed supermarket in a housing village in Nong Chom, San Sai.
Mr Ole turned up in his BMW, wound down the window, and fired into the group. He also fired a couple of shots into a Toyota Nissan nearby, breaking the windows.
In dramatic scenes similar to those in a movie, CCTV footage shows Mr Phattaranit taking a bullet in his right rib cage and keeling over at the table.
His startled girlfriend jumps to her feet as she cradles him in one arm and calls for help on her phone with the other. The young friend drinking with them had gone off to the toilet but heard the shots and came back in time to see the BMW speeding away.
Mr Phattaranit later recovered from his injuries enough to identify Mr Ole as the shooter.
Pol Col Sampan Sirima, head of Maejo station, said the suspect had opened a business trading digital currency. Mr Phattaranit was helping him but allegedly pocketed about 10,000 baht. Mr Ole, who lives in the same village, decided to seek revenge by shooting him, he said.
Mr Ole, who insists he shot at the crowd merely as a warning, tossed his 9mm handgun into a water channel. Divers found it after a five-hour search. Police charged him with attempting to kill, and firearms charges.
Novice thieves learn the hard way
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| Kaikorn |
In Chiang Mai, a young man whom media reports described as a “polite” robber was nabbed within three hours of stealing from the Siam Commercial Bank on Chotana Road, Muang district, on Aug 5.
Kasikorn Wongnakhon, 24, who told police later that he moved to the North in search of work after losing his job in Bangkok, took a queue ticket as he waited for service. He also had his bank passbook with him.
When staff asked what he wanted, he said he had come to deposit cash. The officer gave him a deposit slip, which he filled out with the words: “I have come to rob the place. Keep it quiet, and pass me the money.”
As customers dwindled near closing time, he approached the cashier and passed over his note. She was shocked and opened her cash drawer. However, impatient for the cash, he jumped over the counter and helped himself to 19,560 baht. CCTV footage caught him in the act.
He ran across the road to his motorcycle and took off, heading for Mae Rim. Chang Puak police head Pol Col Kittipong Petchmuni said officers tracked him down within three hours, thanks to the CCTV images, his vehicle registration, and phone records.
They identified the vehicle’s owner as Supap Kamya, from Khon Kaen. He told police that he gave the bike to his younger brother, Boonkert Kamya, who lives in Chiang Mai.
Police went to see him at his home in Mae Taeng. Mr Boonkert recognised the young man from the CCTV images as his stepson, Mr Kasikorn. Police lay in wait for Mr Kasikorn and nabbed him as he returned home about 7pm. He appears to be wearing school shorts as police seat him on the grass.
He said he did not take a weapon, though bank staff say he kept touching his pocket as if threatening to pull out a gun. Police charged him with robbery.
Meanwhile, in Chon Buri a young thief was trapped at the gold shop he had just robbed when the owner, suspicious about his behaviour, locked the doors before he could make a decent run for it.
Natthawat Boonaht, 20, originally from Surin, was caught as he tried to flee the Bun Pheng gold shop in Sriracha, Chon Buri, on Aug 5.
The young man had turned up in mid-afternoon, claiming his girlfriend wanted him to exchange a gold necklace. He asked to look at several necklaces but later left, saying he needed more advice.
About 5pm he turned up again claiming he had decided on a necklace weighing 3 baht in gold. Half an hour later, after further dithering, Mr Natthawat grabbed it and fled.
The owner, Manit Thakolsuwet, 65, grew suspicious as Mr Natthawat kept looking over his shoulder and took so long to make a decision. He closed the two doors to the shop, even as the thief was still there. That forced Mr Natthawat to bend down and open the slide lock, slowing his escape.
Traders nearby whom Mr Manit had tipped off about his behaviour grabbed him, joined by the owner. They held the thief until Nong Kham police arrived. Media images show him wearing an orange cap with a smiley face as he sits dejectedly outside the shop.
Mr Natthawat said he worked in an industrial estate in Rayong but lost his job three months ago. He tried to rob the store to pay the rent, he said. Police charged him with attempted robbery.
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