Just deserts, Dear Mr Thief, overhead drunk, kidnap lies

Anyone’s fair game

The murder scene in Udon Thani.

A druggie in Udon Thani randomly killed his neighbour, returned to his own home and fatally cut himself on broken glass as he smashed up the place in a drug-fuelled rage.

Police from Phen station were called to a single-storey cement house on April 3 when they found the body of Thaniya, 57, stabbed to death in a bathroom. Her husband, Samran Duangmanee, 64, said he found the body after hearing the sound of scuffling.

Across the road, police found her killer, Prawut Chantasut, 34, on a drug-fuelled bender. They say he crossed the road to Thaniya’s home and stabbed her fatally in the head and hand, apparently without provocation, before returning to his own home and inadvertently taking his own life.

Prawut and Mae Daeng, as the victim called herself, knew each other. However, when he encountered Thaniya at home that day, according to Mr Samran, who heard their exchange from his bedroom, the killer had trouble recognising her, such was his hallucinogenic state.

“It’s Mae Daeng, Mae Daeng,” she said, referring to herself, trying to make him understand.

Prawut stabbed her anyway, shattering her head with his blows.

As he left her place, Prawut chased the neighbours with his knife but they were able to seek cover.

Back at his own family home, a two-storey cement and wooden structure, he smashed up the belongings inside, spent 20 minutes walking about on the roof, and finally surrendered to police.

However, Prawut had cut himself on a glass mirror during his drug-fuelled bender, severing a major artery in his right arm. Rescue workers patched him up and sent him to hospital but he succumbed to his injuries. Police found his blood scattered throughout the house.

Mr Samran, the victim’s husband, 64, said he did not know why Prawut would kill his wife.

Prawut’s mother, Ngern Phiromboon, 68, says her son had been hooked on ya ba and cannabis since Matthayom 1, and hallucinated heavily.

He had hit her across the back with a piece of wood three times the day before, and threatened to kill her often. “I couldn’t look at him in the face, or he’d stare back like he wanted to kill me,” she said.

“I was scared of him, and barely slept as I was worried he would attack me.”

She had taken her son to be treated at a hospital in Loei province, where they prescribed meds to keep his psychiatric disorder in check. She doesn’t know if he took drugs before the attack or was still taking his meds.

“He works in Bangkok, and had only just returned on March 10. He had run amok before, but never attacked anyone,” she said in tears, offering a wai of apology via the media to the victim’s family.

Take your custom elsewhere

The sign in which the Samut Prakan locals appeal to the burglar to go elsewhere

Samut Prakan residents are appealing to a burglar’s sense of fairness as they plead with him via a large sign outside their apartment not to rob their place again.

Residents of the apartment in soi Klong Panya, Theparak Road, Bang Sao Thong district last week unveiled the sign where they ask the robber to show mercy and rob someone else instead.

The apartment has been broken into many times, they say, with the thief making off with motorcycles, spare parts, gold, amulets and other valuables. Some residents say they have been burgled as much as three times a day, and despair of police efforts to find the culprit.

Given the extent of their suffering, their message to the burglar was surprisingly polite: “Attention Mr Burglar, with respect...this place has been broken into and vehicles stolen many times. Please give us some time to go back to work, because we have to look after our families. So we ask for mercy from you. Please go to someone else’s place first. Here, there’s nothing left. With the highest regards, Bang Sao Thong district, Samut Prakan.”

Resident Panupong Promma, 52, said he had lived there for 10 years, and been robbed three times. “I lost gold, amulets, cash, and a phone. I alert the police but nothing happens. I doubt they will chase him down though we’d still like them to go past our place more often and look around.

“As for the burglar, we would like him to try somewhere new.”

Teerawut Chang-in, who has lived there for the past five years, and also looks after the place, said he has been robbed five times. He lost his motorcycle, bike and other items, and was robbed most recently on March 27.

“I can no longer stand it, so put up the sign to show we are just not sitting here idly. We want the cops to come more often, and that sign lets them know that we are suffering,” he said. Police have yet to respond to the drama.

Now, where can I nap?

A man asleep on overhead phone lines in the city.

A Maha Sarakham man who travelled to Bangkok to claim his lotto winnings was found asleep atop some elevated phone cables after celebrating too hard the night before.

Locals spotted the man, unnamed in news reports, suspended on overhead phone lines in soi Phai Singto, Rama IV Road on April 2, and called for help.

Thong Lor police and rescue workers initially thought he might be dead, as the phone lines are close to overhead power lines. One of his arms had flopped over to one side, but otherwise he was lying flat on his back.

The power company sent up staff on a boom lift to take a look. After a bit of prodding, they found the man was merely asleep, not dead, though he needed help to get back down again.

The man, who was still in a drunken state, said he travelled from Maha Sarakham to Klong Toey to claim his lotto winnings of 4,000 baht, with his three winning numbers of 111. He proudly showed his rescuers a picture of the lotto ticket which he took on his phone.

After claiming the prize, he celebrated, drank too much, and decided to sleep it off on the phone wires overhead. He can’t recall how he climbed up there, though a tree and a bus sign are nearby. Police sent him on his way.

Just another kidnap saga

Kim Hyeongil

A Korean overstayer spun a tale to his parents about being kidnapped in the Land of Smiles, but was caught out.

Chon Buri immigration police, tourist police, and officers from Nong Preu station turned up at a house last week looking for Korean visitor Kim Hyeongil, 24.

They were acting at the behest of the Korean embassy, which had been contacted by his worried parents.

The young man’s parents say Mr Hyeongil told them he had been kidnapped and taken to the house. However, he managed to flee to Suvarnabhumi Airport, though he mysteriously went missing before his flight home.

Police say Mr Hyeongil was evidently not expecting them, as he fled out the back of the house and into a forest, where officers followed and caught him.

They took him to the immigration centre where, through an interpreter, he admitted he had not been kidnapped as claimed. He made up the story to con his parents into sending “ransom” money to support his lifestyle in Thailand, where he was living with his girlfriend, police said.

Mr Hyeongil had asked his parents for money many times previously, without success. A check of his passport found the youngster had overstayed 497 days. He was handed over to local police, who were preparing to toss him out of the country.