Fence row; hapless Dad; too many wives; fatal itch

He knew no boundaries

Suspect Somphong

A property dispute which a Nonthaburi man says festered for 37 years came to a fatal head when relatives next door painted over what he says was his side of the fence.

Rattanathibet police nabbed Somphong Chumpengphan, 74, for shooting to death his brother-in-law, Uthai Wallarach, also 74, with a shotgun.

Earlier, he slapped the victim’s wife as she was painting the fence of her property, which is next to his own.

Patchira Jarupongsakul, 71, the victim's wife, said the row started when Mr Somphong demanded to know why she was painting on his side.

He grabbed the brush and painted on what he said was his fence post, and even drew a line with a blue pen pointing to a boundary marker, to show her where his land started, she said.

Ms Patchira said she, her daughter and a tradesman had been painting there for the past few days, but this was the first they had heard from him.

“We argued and he hit me in the face. He knocked off my glasses and bruised my left eye and ear. I called my husband to tell him what happened and he turned up on his motorbike.

“He shouted at Somphong, ‘So are you now a thug as well?’

“Somphong pulled out his gun and shot him,” she said.

The scene outside the house

The two families have a history of bad blood going back 37 years. That was when Mr Somphong, by his own account, was left out of pocket when he hired builders to put up Uthai’s house but Uthai, elder brother of his wife, refused to pay for the work.

“I had a house built for him for just 250,000 baht; it is now worth 400,000 baht. I asked for equipment and labour, with no profit added, but the other side refused to pay,” he told police. The latest row was over the boundary line. Both sides disagree over where the marker lies.

Mr Somphong said he argued with Uthai’s wife over the boundary and suggested they call the authorities to have it measured properly. “When Uthai turned up, he charged at me. I warned him I had a gun but he kept coming, so I shot him in self-defence.”

Ms Patchira said the attack was unprovoked. Worasamon Siriwachirowat, 49, her daughter, said she tussled with Mr Somphong after he hit her Mum. “He pointed at me in the face as if I was going to be next. I said I wasn’t scared and we struggled for a bit before someone separated us,” she said.

When her father turned up, he went to talk to Mr Somphong, but the killer charged out of the house with his gun, she said. “I thought he was just threatening Dad with the gun so I went to protect him. However, the bullet grazed my arm and hit Dad in the heart.”

Ms Patchira said she reckons Mr Somphong planned to shoot her husband as he barely gave him a chance. Police charged Mr Somphong with premeditated murder and firearms offences.

One motive after another

Adisak in custody

A Chon Buri man with a history of mental illness stabbed his father in a frenzied attack for getting too close to his girlfriend.

Bang Lamung police nabbed Adisak, 31, after he turned up covered in blood to hand himself in. Officers saw him walking about in a daze and asked him what was wrong.

“He was lingering about the flag pole out front when officers went to ask and he told them he had just attacked his Dad,” one news report said.

Adisak left his father, Udom, 45, lying naked in front of their two-storey townhouse behind Bo Bae Na Kluea market, about 1km from the station.

The victim was found with seven stab wounds to the abdomen, left side of the chest, right side of the trunk, and in the leg just by his genitals.

Udom is taken to hospital

Pornnapat Rodsupa, 18, Udom's granddaughter, said she was in the kitchen in front of the house and her granddad taking a shower at the rear when she heard the victim yelling and calling out for help.

She saw her grandfather lying in a pool of blood after Adisak stabbed him.

“I grabbed my motorbike and headed to the station to alert the police. When I looked behind, I saw my uncle following me on his own bike. I stopped and called out for help, but my uncle kept going towards the station,” she told reporters.

Adisak, she said, was mentally ill. “He thinks he’s the son of King Naresuan who drove out the Myanmar invaders. He doesn’t like Myanmar folk, and reckons granddad is one of those, so attacked him,” she said.

Pol Col Navin Sinthurat, head of the station, said Adisak told them that he stabbed his Dad with a fruit knife because he was drawing too close to his girlfriend.

A drugs test turned up no illegal substances though Adisak had been receiving care as a psychiatric patient.

His family say Adisak was sent to drug rehab following an overdose in 2016. He had been ill ever since the drug episode but had shown no previous signs of violence.

Speaking to reporters, Adisak gave yet another account of his actions, saying the attack stemmed from the many beatings his father gave him when he was a kid.

He also claimed Udom was not his real father, and that his girlfriend was an actress.

Udom is in ICU on a breathing machine but out of danger. Police charged Adisak with assault causing serious injury.

Spousal tensions prove too much

The house where a hill tribe man killed his wife.

A hilltribe man in Chiang Rai killed one of his two wives then took his own life out of remorse.

Surachai Licha, 26, shot himself after declaring before shocked police and locals: “If my wife has to die, I would ask to die after her.”

Muang police turned up at his bamboo house earlier after learning from his younger brother that Surachai had shot dead his wife, Namee, aged 18 or 19. Surachai lived with both his wives, media reports said, along with other members of the family.

Her blood-stained body was found on her bed. He shot her in the right thigh after an argument and efforts to revive her were unsuccessful.

Surakij Licha, his younger brother, said Surachai and his sister-in-law were drinking beer when he and the other occupants of the household went to bed.

“Shortly after I heard them argue followed by the shot,” he said. “I rushed out, saw Namee and called rescue workers.”

As rescue workers were trying to help the victim, Surachai raced out of the house and declared he wanted to take his own life. “Police and locals followed him out and tried to talk him out of it, without success.”

Surachai shot himself in the right forehead with his 9mm calibre handgun.

Media reports said the stress of living together with his two wives was too much. The women in his life were unhappy about sharing him, leading to rows.

He shot his “second wife”, they said, then took his own life after realising what he had done.

How not to clean a gun

Jian Wannapong shot himself here

An elderly man in Chon Buri shot himself dead with his loaded revolver after absent-mindedly pointing it towards his head to scratch his ear, his wife says.

Nong Prue police say Jian Wannapong, 91, shot himself with his Smith and Wesson .38 revolver while cleaning it.

His wife of more than 50 years, Lamyai Boonchu, aged 75, who was sitting chatting to him, said her husband cleaned his gun every two days, a long-standing ritual.

Bare-chested and wearing shorts, he was cleaning the gun again on the day of the incident when he pointed the muzzle of the gun towards his right ear, presumably to scratch it, and accidentally pulled the trigger.

The gun went off, shooting him in the head.

Ms Lamyai raced over and shook his body, but her husband failed to stir. She contacted relatives, who called the police.

Officers say it looks like an accident but sent the body for an autopsy at the local hospital.