'Thieving' spirit, drug addict flares up, kathoey sex act

Goddess of mercy no help

Police inspect a Chinese shrine where Srisuda was shot.

Locals have swung to the defence of a Surat Thani medium after her vengeful killer claimed she duped his wife out of almost 1 million baht.

Srisuda Arunchot, 44, was shot at a Chinese shrine in Phanom district on April 9. Mourners at her funeral said she had been helping cure locals for 20 years with herbal and spiritual powers at her disposal.

Her killer, Chainarong Chupetch, 46, told Phanom police following his arrest that the medium had conned his wife out of the couple’s earnings for the past three years.

Mr Chainarong, who shot the medium as she was holding a ceremony to converse with the spirit inside her, said he split it up with his wife following arguments about the medium’s influence on her life.

Chainarong Chupetch shows how he shot Srisuda.

The killer said he pulled the weapon from under his house where he had concealed it and hid behind a rubber tree close to the shrine. News reports say he shot the medium once from behind without saying a word, and fired off two more shots to clear an escape route for himself.

Srisuda, her husband and a woman “disciple” were taking part in the ceremony in the shrine, a humble lean-to built in a rubber plantation.

The killer fled but was caught shortly after by police. He told officers that his elder sister had recommended the medium to his wife Benjamat three years ago. They had been in regular contact since.

Srisuda, he said, told his wife she was a victim of black magic and charged her a fee to dispel it.

“She asked for money many times until my wife and I started to argue. Then on April 2 my elder sister told me Benjamat had bought the medium land worth 250,000 baht. That was the last straw. We argued again and split up,” he said.

Niramit Thongyuan, 58, who was injured by stray shotgun pellets, said she was sitting next to the victim when she was attacked. “I saw she had been shot from behind, and helped get her to hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries,” she said.

Speaking from Srisuda’s funeral at Bang Nam Yen temple in Phra Saeng district, her aunt, Naree, 64, said the medium was a good person who had treated many people since she was a youngster.

Srisuda Arunchot

“There’s no way she could have swindled the killer’s wife of money, and she has no history of doing such things. She lived in a very humble hut-like structure,” she said.

Srisuda, she said, had opened the shrine dedicated to the goddess of mercy, Kuan Im, 20 years ago. The shrine was likewise a simple affair, with no valuables or fixed assets.

Ruangwit Thongsen, 49, another mourner, said Srisuda used to buy rubber scrap in the area for a living but later turned herself into a medium. She built the goddess of mercy shrine, which locals called Amma (similar to “grandma”). She claimed to be able to channel Kuan Im when tending to locals’ needs.

“Most who came to see her wanted to get rid of hexes in their lives. Some were healed, and others were not,” he said.

Wat, the victim’s husband, said he and his wife lived simply as rubber plantation workers. If his wife truly duped Ms Benjamat, they would lived better than they did, he said.

The killer’s wife, Ms Benjamat, came to see his own wife one or two times a week for a visit, not a cure.

“The killer’s claims that Ms Benjamat bought land for my wife are also untrue.”

Srisuda’s younger brother said the victim and her husband have four children, including the youngest, seven, who is handicapped. “She will now be left an orphan, as will the others. I don’t know how the family will cope,” he said.

Pol Col Suthi Nitiakharapong, head of Phanom station, said police are probing the claims. Mr Chainarong has been charged with premeditated murder and firearms charges.

Granny was too generous

Surasak ‘Pao’ Sondonphrai

A Nakhon Pathom drug addict killed his grandma after she refused his request for drug money, her family says.

Krateep police nabbed Surasak “Pao” Sondonphrai, 27, after he bludgeoned his grandmother Phayom Suksomkij, 80, to death at their family home in Kamphaeng Saen district on April 4.

The killing came hours after relatives gathered for a ceremony marking 100 days since the birth of the victim’s grandson, when they say Mr Pao already showed signs of being high on drugs.

Police found Mr Pao standing outside the house where he had dragged his grandmother after beating her over the head with a frypan and a hoe, both broken in the impact.

Family members say they had warned grandma Phayom against giving Mr Pao money to feed his habit, but she would slip him money regardless.

Phayom Suksomkij

Grandma Phayom, at whose feet he had prostrated himself during the morning ceremony, only to slay her brutally hours later, had raised Mr Pao since he was a child after his parents split up.

She still had a soft spot for Mr Pao, even though he hit her repeatedly in the past, forcing her into hospital to treat her injuries.

Relatives had complained to police about his behaviour but grandma Phayom decided against pressing charges, as she loved him despite his aggressive behaviour.

Ornchira Chandee, 21, Mr Pao’s sister-in-law, said she was looking after her young son when she heard an argument in the house about 100m away where Mr Pao and his grandmother were staying.

“You would do this to me?” Mr Pao challenged her. She heard grandma Phayom cry out several times.

Mr Pao dragged her outside the house. Family members heard him say in a delirious state, “She won’t die from something so slight. A splinter entered her foot and I was removing it.”

Police said the hoe he used as a weapon was broken in two, as was the pan he threw at her. Mr Pao, who had been nabbed many times for drug use, would routinely ask his father for drugs money, or if he wasn’t around, his grandma. Police charged him with murder.

Safe sex at knifepoint

Kathoey Guak after the robbery

A Samut Prakan kathoey pretended to be aroused by an opportunist burglar’s sexual advances as she waited for her chance to escape.

Guak (assumed name), 23, said the intruder broke into her second-floor apartment in Thepparat Road, Bang Phli district on April 10 about 3am. News reports say that she woke up to find the man was already next to her in bed.

The man, aged 30-35, held a knife to her throat and demanded her valuables. He said if she didn’t cooperate he would call his friends into her room to finish the job.

She handed him 200 baht, only to be asked if she was a kathoey. “I said yes, and he forced me to take off my clothes and started having his way with me,” Guak, who lives alone, said.

She decided to go along with the act, pretending to be aroused as she waited for her chance to flee. “I left the bed to search for a condom for him and made sure to shine the light of my phone into his face so I would remember what he looked like.

Guak sprained her ankle fleeing the room

“When I thought he was distracted I ran out the front door and called the neighbours for help.

“I tripped on the stairs and sprained my ankle as I was fleeing the room. But when I returned to my place shortly after he had gone.”

Bang Phli police found no signs of forced entry to the front door, which was locked. They assume he let himself in through a sliding door on the balcony after jumping across from the building next door.

CCTV footage shows him streaking across a carpark in front of the building, bobbing under a fence and running across the road after Guak’s call for help.

Guak, who is nursing a sprained ankle after her ordeal, is sure she would recognise him again. Police were looking for the intruder with the aid of security footage.