Merciful hubby beater, thief chills out, gold shop antics

Handy in the kitchen

Sut Kongsotsub nursing his injuries

A Buri Ram woman who hit her husband 30 times with a pestle, sending him to hospital, says she will do it again unless he quits drinking.

Sut Kongsotsub, 54, of Nang Rong district, was attacked by his wife, Ubon Konkam, 56, until she knocked him out.

She called police thinking she had killed him, but rescue workers who turned up revived Mr Sut and sent him to hospital. She broke his tooth, a finger, and left him with a swollen eye and bruises all over the body.

However, she was merciful to some extent, she says, avoiding delicate parts of his body such as his head. When asked why she pummelled him 30 times with her pestle, she replied with one word: “Resentment.”

Her husband, she says, whinges when drunk, insults her and her family, and has been doing it for 20 years.

“I tolerate it only because we have a child together, otherwise I would have left. I admit my husband is the main worker on the farm, but I had run out of patience.

“In the past I would strike him with my hand, but this time reached my limit so I grabbed a pestle from the kitchen,” she said.

The pestle

Her handiwork done, Ms Ubon called the police and told them just as brusquely: “I have killed my husband.”

Fortunately for her, Mr Sut will live to see another day. When reporters turned up at her house the next day, Ms Ubon still hadn’t been to see Mr Sut in hospital. However, when rescue workers suggested she visit him to see if he’d agree to stop drinking, reluctantly she agreed.

At first he was a bit pouty when he saw her, his wife having beaten him to within an inch of his life, but he was happy to talk. She asked bluntly: “Will you quit or not?”

Mr Sut turned to her and whispered, “Can I have just one shot?” Ms Ubon replied: “You can’t even have a single shot.”

Speaking to reporters, she said she doesn’t believe her husband can quit, as he has promised her many times before that he would, only to break his word. But this time she punished him so severely that he was admitted to hospital.

“So, I will see how things go once again. If he slips again, next time I will beat him even harder,” she said.

Bright smile for CCTV

 The laid-back burglar in front of his victim’s CCTV camera.

A young woman in Khon Kaen is scared to stay at home after a laid-back burglar boasted of his prowess in front of her CCTV camera as he broke into her place.

Watcharaporn (no surname given), 27, said she and her partner have rented the Muang district apartment for a month. They were burgled shortly after they moved in, and have now been burgled a second time, she suspects by the same man.

On his most recent visit on Aug 11, the burglar, wearing a long-sleeved shirt, shorts, and a cap, sat squarely in front of a CCTV camera outside their front door which they had installed since the first burglary.

He gave them a big smile as he smoked a joint and played with his phone, seemingly unflustered about the possibility he would be identified. News reports said the cheeky burglar was “chilling out” to the max. Later, he went back inside to resume his thieving.

Watcharaporn’s father, who can check the camera remotely when his daughter is away, called her to ask about the man he could see sitting in front of her place, and rifling through their goods inside. “Dad asked if we had let anyone stay over or if that was a friend waiting for us outside, but said his behaviour looked odd,” she told reporters.

Watcharaporn and boyfriend Peerapat were heading home after working in Nakhon Ratchasima. When they arrived home the burglar had left but they found plenty of traces of him inside.

They checked their belongings to see which items had been stolen. The goods included a phone charger, a shirt which Peerapat wears to work, a pair of shorts and items for decorating their place.

As she was wandering around she could see flakes of marijuana strewn about the floor as if he was smoking while he worked. She lodged a complaint with Phra Lap sub-district police.

Later, Watcharaporn, who believes she knows the identity of the burglar, posted the CCTV clip to social media and added acerbically: “Chilling out, were you? You come and steal from my place and are still winking at the camera, sitting smoking dope while playing on your phone.

“I know who you are, but don’t know for now what hole you’ve hidden yourself in. But we’ll see each other.”

Watcharaporn said the first time they were burgled, they lost a pair of her shoes worth 5,500 baht, and a pair of shoes belonging to her boyfriend worth 4,000 baht.

“We put in cameras after that and I didn’t think he’d come back a second time. I am scared he will try again as there’s no door outside or anyone checking the visitors. People can come and go as they want.” Police are investigating.

Mum’s fallen angel

Aranya was nabbed after robbing the gold shop.

A Nakhon Sawan mother was in tears after learning her daughter robbed a gold shop to pay back money she stole from her to discharge online gambling debts.

Lat Yao police on Aug 13 nabbed the thief, Aranya (no surname given), 21, outside the Yaowarat Krungthep gold shop. A soy milk trader had tackled her in the moments after the robbery.

Aranya fled the shop holding a four baht gold necklace she snatched and was attempting a getaway on her motorbike when trader Natthawut, who realised what was going on, tackled her and held her until police arrived.

Police also seized her Honda Wave motorcycle which she took to the scene. She had covered the registration plate with black plastic to disguise it.

Earlier, Aranya, in an all-black outfit including full-face mask, walked into the shop and asked the owner’s wife, Jintana (no surname given), about bracelets worth four baht weight in gold. Aranya tried one on her hand and asked to see another. As Jintana’s back was turned, she fled from the shop.

Caught in the act

Talking to police, Aranya said she was hooked on online gambling, and had run up an 80,000 baht debt. 

She had quietly taken a bracelet of her mother’s to the pawn shop and raised 40,000 baht, and taken another 40,000 baht from her mother’s bank account to repay her debt.

However, she was worried her mother would find out so decided to rob the gold shop and sell the proceeds. She would then redeem her mother’s bracelet at the pawn shop and repay the stolen money. However, it didn’t go as planned.

Police charged her with theft and using a motor vehicle to abet her crime. When her mother visited the station she cried heavily, news reports said, because she thought her daughter was a good girl and was shocked to hear she had robbed a gold shop.