Roadside whodunnit, unlucky stepson, lunchbox anger

Nighttime chase mystery

 Suphamit Chandee

A Phatthalung woman fleeing her husband’s rage was surprised to find him dead by the road as she made her way to hospital shortly after escaping his clutches.

Suphamit Chandee, 33 was found stabbed to death with a discarded sharpened rod by his side.

He had earlier wielded the weapon against his wife, Dararat Songnui, 26, at their home in Kuan Kanun district. The row later spilt out onto the street.

Suphamit, under the influence of drugs, stabbed his wife and chased her from the house, threatening to kill her.

Happily for Ms Dararat, her younger brother, Nong Frame, 17, who heard the commotion, followed the pair on his motorbike.

He reached Suphamit first, and unable to see his sister, confronted the man.

Ms Dararat had run ahead and almost reached the police station about 1.4km away. Suphamit, who had apparently lost his prey after she outran him, was standing on the road alone.

Nong Frame stopped his bike, and fearful for his sister, challenged him. “Where’s my sister? What have you done to her?” he asked.

Suphamit turned on Nong Frame and started stabbing him, but found he was no match for his teenage strength.

Nong Frame grabbed the weapon and stabbed him back until he fell. Suphamit was found with four stab wounds, including one to his head and under his chin. The young man handed himself in to police shortly after.

The attack started earlier in the couple’s bedroom when Suphamit, hallucinating under the influence of kanja and krathom water, started stabbing his wife with a 120cm metal rod and a bearing scraper.

Ms Dararat had asked her husband to quieten down as she was getting ready to sleep. Suphamit, who was moving about the place restlessly, turned on her.

“I had taken a shower and was about to go to bed, but my wide-eyed husband was talking to himself, muttering that someone was trying to kill him,” she told police.

“He was walking in and out, slamming the door. I told him not to make so much noise, but he flared up. He slapped my face and tried to strangle me,” she said.

Suphamit grabbed the metal rod, used for sorting rubbish, from the corner of the room and stabbed her in the stomach.

“I fended off the next blow with my right hand and begged for my life. He said I should run, but if he caught me he would kill me. I fled the house to seek help from the police.” Both were wearing just a sarong during the late-night drama.

Nong Frame said his sister called on locals for help, but no one could hear her. He decided to follow on his motorbike.

“When I arrived at the scene I couldn’t find my sister and assumed he had killed her. I stabbed him in self-defence.”

Wearing her blood-stained sarong, Ms Dararat had almost reached the station when her mother, riding a motorbike, saw her on the road and picked her up.

It is not clear if the pair stopped to alert police. But the pair decided to double back and exchange the motorcycle for the couple’s pickup. Ms Dararat’s mother then took her to hospital.

CCTV cameras show they took a different route back home, as they didn’t yet know Suphamit was dead and were worried he would return and start attacking her again.

After a change of clothes and switching vehicles, Ms Dararat and her mother were heading to the hospital when they came across her husband’s body.

“I wound down the window and asked if my husband was okay, but locals and my younger brother, who were at the scene, told me he was dead.”

Ms Dararat was initially distraught. However, when she found out her younger brother had killed him to spare her own life, she felt even worse.

She pleaded with police to lay a lenient charge against the boy, as if it wasn’t for Nong Frame, she’s sure she would now be dead.

Speaking from Suphamit’s funeral at Wat Khok Don, his father, Prasit Chandee, 56, cast doubt on the other side’s claims. He reckons the murder was set up to expunge a debt.

Suphamit, he said, had visited him in Nakhon Si Thammarat for two days on Sept 24, and while he was there didn’t touch hard drugs or booze.

“He drank kratom water, and that’s it. My son told me a relative of his wife’s had asked to borrow some money. He lent it but was never repaid. That relative came back and asked for more, and he refused, leading to a row with his wife.

“I believe he was killed to expunge the debt and they asked Nong Frame to do the deed because as a teen he would get a more lenient sentence,” he said.

Ms Dararat agreed her husband was normally good-natured and hard-working. However, he had started taking drugs lately and would hallucinate.

Early news reports did not mention the teen’s role in the drama. They said when Ms Dararat arrived at the station, she found no one there. On her way back home, she and her husband fought again and he fell to the ground. She later discovered he was dead as she made her way to hospital.

Police arrested Nong Frame, who admitted stabbing Suphamit. There was no immediate word on what charges he will face.

Drunk shows no mercy

Nithipat Sonsin

A drunken Samut Prakan man stabbed his stepson to death after he stepped into a domestic row over noise.

Bang Kaew police found the body of Nithipat Sonsin, 16, wearing just a pair of warmer pants, on a road alongside Lat Krabang canal, about 500m inside soi Kingkaew 10 in Bang Phli district. He had been stabbed in the forehead, throat and rib cage.

Nearby they found his stepfather, Surapong Yokprasoprat, 41, who was drunk and holding the murder weapon, a 23cm knife.

The attack started in the family’s two-storey wooden house and spilt outside, travelling a further 100m before the young man collapsed and died from his injuries.

 Surapong Yokprasoprat

His grandmother, Sudjai Srisuk, 61, said her son-in-law Surapong was drinking and making noise. “I told him to be quiet as it was late. That set off an argument between us. My grandson heard the fuss and came downstairs. The two started arguing and punching each other.”

Mr Surapong realised he was no match for the lad so went to his bedroom to fetch the knife and started stabbing him. The boy ran from the house wounded but his stepdad followed him and kept lunging at him until he collapsed.

Speaking to police, Mr Surapong admitted stabbing Nithipat, but claimed it was in self-defence. Police charged him with murder and a weapons charge.

Hunger pains turn deadly

Charoenchai Cheowchan

A Nan hill tribe man fatally stabbed his wife after she forgot to pack his lunch and he chastised her in anger.

Mae Kaning police in Wiang Sa, Nan, nabbed Charoenchai Cheowchan, 41, for stabbing to death his wife, Kingkaew Cheowchan, 38.

She was found dead on a bed with the machete murder weapon nearby. After killing her, Mr Charoenchai drove his six-wheel truck to the police station to hand himself in.

His wife was found with wounds to her right arm, shoulder, and head. Her throat was almost severed, said police, who sent her body to Wiang Sa hospital for an autopsy.

Kingkaew Cheowchan

Media reports said Mr Charoenchai, a labourer, killed his wife after she forgot to pack his lunch and he was forced to get through the day hungry.

He told police he went to work that day and at lunchtime couldn’t find his lunch box. He asked his subordinates for some of their lunch as they sat outside their building site, but he was still hungry.

When he went home he argued with his wife, as she’s the one who normally hands him his lunch as he leaves.

“My wife grabbed the machete first and started attacking me. I wrested it off her but didn’t mean to kill her,” he said.

The victim’s parents, Ong Liu Jiamchiang, 68, and his wife, Muang Seng Jiamchiang, also 68, said the couple have had three big arguments now.

The most recent row was three years ago when their daughter went to the police. However, the two later made up, they said.

“We live about 500m away and dropped in to see her often. However, Kingkaew didn’t tell us much about her marriage problems as her mother suffers from depression,” Mr Ong Liu said. Police charged Mr Charoenchai with murder, and a weapons charge.