Gang brought to heel, noisy neighbour menace, feng shui upset

Reign of terror comes to end

Hua Ball

Locals in Tamot district of Phatthalung are breathing a sigh of relief after a jailbird was nabbed for the brazen robbery and murder of a neighbour, saying he was behind a recent crime spree in the area which left them too scared to go to police.

Yongyuth “Hua Ball” Pengsuwan and his gang robbed and killed his neighbour, Emorn Petchkat, 51, at her two-storey home in Mae Khari, a dramatic escalation on his previous offending which comprised mainly house-breaking.

Hua Ball was released in March from a three-year stretch in jail for attempting to kill, and drug use. His term was extended after he attempted a jail break.

Once released, he went back to offending to feed a fierce drug habit, Tamot police say. A string of neighbours have since come forward to say he climbed their walls, broke into their homes and stole their goods. Some even had CCTV footage of him committing the crimes.

Police arrested him and three others on Sept 24, the same day as an autopsy showed Emorn had been assaulted, strangled, and raped. The other suspects, Thawatchai “Keam” Kangkasare, 28, Ekkachai “Pong” Saepung, 35, and Theerapong “K” Chan, 34, denied charges stemming from the Sept 19 incident.

Drug tests turned up positive for three of the men. Police say up to seven may have been involved, and are likely to seek more warrants.

Hua Ball, the ringleader, invited his gang comprising mates and relatives to help him rob the place owned by the victim, who lived alone. He laid the plan after breaking into the same house two days before and noticing Emorn kept a security safe in her bedroom.

While he was able to steal many valuables on that visit, Emorn, who worked as a cleaner for a photocopying shop, was too scared to complain as she feared for her safety, said Pol Col Thaweesak Kamput, head of Tamot police. Officers only found out later what happened.

On the night of Sept 19, Hua Ball climbed the wall into his victim’s place and let himself in through a second-storey window, just as he had two days before. He opened the front door to the other men before they surprised Emorn, who was asleep in her room.

Two of the men, Pong and Keam, allegedly raped her while the others held her down. When they demanded she open the safe and she refused, the men strangled her and threw her body down the stairs to make it look as if she fell in an accident. They took remaining valuables including Buddha amulets, gold and her phone, before splitting up the loot outside Hua Ball’s place.

Hua Ball lived with his father, who runs a machine workshop at his house. He had made no effort to defend his son when neighbours complained about the robberies. “If you have evidence against my son, feel free to go the police,” he would say.

The jailbird and his gang gathered there apparently without fear that neighbours would see them. One neighbour, Kai, spied on them through his keyhole, walking up and down outside the victim’s house.

He had been robbed of a belt, clothes and coin collection in a house break-in a month before, and suspected Hua Ball.

Another neighbour, Maew, handed over CCTV footage from her house which showed Hua Ball climbing over her wall on Sept 19 and scouting about for goods worth stealing. Later he climbed another wall to gain access to Emorn’s home.

Nor did the gang make much effort to disguise the fact they had robbed her. The victim’s body was to be cremated at Mae Khari temple on Sept 23. The temple had relatives bring her ID card for formal notification purposes; however, they could not find it, as the bag which she would take to work had gone missing. Inside the bag she kept a phone, ID, wallet, and amulets, they say.

Neighbours who visited her place the morning after the murder say they noticed bruising on the body which suggested she did not die in a mere fall. Media reports say the cremation was put on hold as relatives later requested another autopsy, performed at Songkhla Nakharin hospital in Hat Yai.

The medical examiners found evidence of assault and rape; she was also hit over the head and strangled. Police were notified and started their probe, resulting in the arrests.

Other reports, however, paint a more nuanced picture. They say police themselves noticed oddities about the case and suspected murder even as relatives assumed it was an accident. Strangely, given his central role in the burglary and murder, Hua Ball was the only one to confess. When police took him for a crime reconstruction he was abused by angry neighbours.

Locals say the brazen nature of the gang’s offending left them stunned. News reports say Hua Ball calmly watched as rescue workers removed her body from the house. He declined to help relatives clear up her belongings, saying he was afraid of ghosts.

He also attended Emorn’s funeral before his arrest, wearing the Buddha amulets he had stolen from her, and even playing games on her stolen phone, one news report said.

Thaweekiat Lakmuang, 47, village head, said many locals have complained of Hua Ball breaking into their homes. “The outcome is a good one, as cops were able to nab the gang and locals can now breathe easy,” he said. Pol Col Thaweesak, head of Tamot police, said the suspects were charged with intentional killing, burglary, and rape.

Engine revvers dispatched

An assistant village head in Surat Thani shot to death his two neighbours after a row over their noisy motors.

Chatchai Buakaew, 43, handed himself in to police on Sept 22 after slaying Prapas Kaewkanrat, 46, and his son Itthipon, 24, at their house in Tha Thong, Kanchanadit district.

Chatchai

Prapas, who like his son drove motors with modified exhausts and enjoyed revving the engine despite the impact on his neighbours, had arrived outside his place in a noisy pickup. 

His wife said Prapas did not have time to turn off the engine before Mr Chatchai had accosted him.

Prapas dared Mr Chatchai to meet him outside to sort out their problem. An enraged Mr Chatchai went home, grabbed a handgun and rifle, and returned to his neighbour’s house. 

He shot Prapas as his wife, Wanna Kaewkanrat, 48, was unlocking the door. Ms Wanna found her husband lying in a pool of blood.

Mr Chatchai stormed into their house and shot at a side window, just as Itthipon emerged from his bedroom to investigate. Mr Chatchai shot him instantly in the arm and chest.

Jittra Phuleum, 24, Itthipon’s girlfriend, was in the bedroom with her elder sister and Itthipon when they heard the row. 

“The killer strode into the bedroom with his pistol, preparing to shoot us,” she told the media. “My elder sister begged him to spare our lives. She said we had nothing to do with the row. The killer must have agreed, because he aimed the gun at Ittipon’s body instead, and shot him again,” she said.

Chatchai’s family had complained that their neighbours made too much noise driving their pickup and motorcycle in the soi. “We have a two-year-old at home who wakes every time you make a noise outside,” Mr Chatchai said.

Ittipon

The din carried on regardless, with the victims even inviting their mates around and revving their black Ford pickup’s engine admiringly, according to clips they posted to Facebook.

Duangrat Buakaew, 80, Chatchai’s mother, said Prapas, who appeared to be drunk, heaped abuse on her family name after being confronted about the noise, which helped push her son over the edge. She said Prapas was wearing a sidearm when his body was found, though his family say the weapon was empty.

Prapas

CCTV footage at his place shows Mr Chatchai, rifle in his hand, calmly heading to the police station after the double murder to give himself up. 

Ms Wanna, Prapas’ wife, said a fed-up Mr Chatchai fired a gun into the air over the engine noise problem last year. “We didn’t lay a complaint as we used to get along, though after that incident, we weren’t on good terms,” she said.

Their noisy ways also appear to have upset others in the area. One neighbour shared CCTV footage of Prapas, unhappy with his wife, turning up outside her work one day and smashing into the front door with his motorcycle as he was doing a wheelie. Police charged Mr Chatchai with killing the pair.

Red van sparks row with landlord

A hairdresser who accused her landlord of upsetting her shop’s feng shui and driving away sales smashed up the landlord’s cars by way of a pointed farewell.

Police are looking for the woman, Sah (assumed name), thought to hail from Sa Kaeo province, after she ran her black Honda HR-V into two vehicles parked outside the building in Bangkok where for three years she ran a struggling haircare shop.

The owners, who caught the Sept 19 incident on CCTV, and released the clip to social media, say Sah approached them last year after seeing a fortune teller. He told her the red pickup parked outside was bad for her shop’s feng shui, or alignment of spiritual forces.

She said her customers were reluctant to visit her third-storey shop in soi Suan Pak 15, Taling Chan, and demanded they move it. Uncle Daeng and Auntie Dum, the owners, said they refused, as a relative, who owns the red van, had parked it there for at least 10 years without problem.

The red van with the bad feng shui.

Sah, unhappy with the response, on Sept 18 took out her frustrations on the owner’s curry puff shop, which they run from the building. She swept aside items in the shop and pulled Auntie Dum’s hair. A video clip shows the ruckus spilling out onto the sidewalk with Sah falling to the ground.

The owners complained to police, but they let Sah go after she admitted the offending. As for the damage, they told the couple they would have to go to court.

The pair had CCTV installed, as they thought Sah might come back to cause more mischief, and so it turned out to be. The next night, the CCTV footage shows her rounding the bend into the soi. Without getting out, she hits one parked vehicle, reverses, and drives into the back of another vehicle opposite. That done, she reverses again and drives off.

A neighbour said Sah, a frequent visitor to soothsayers, was evidently fed up after her poor sales, though he said Covid might have as much to do with it as upset spirits. Her lease was expiring at month’s end so she decided to smash the vehicles, the supposed cause of her woes, as a bitter farewell. Police are looking for her.