Flying poo saga hits home, naughty monk tries out screenshots

Hermit rescued from decrepit room

The apartment from hell where a man lived in squalor for 17 years.

A complaint over flying poo in the Ratchada area lifted the lid on a dark saga in which a psychiatrically ill man is said to have launched the projectiles from his room where he lived in squalor for 17 years.

Social media activist Guntouch “Kan” Jompalang said a local, Wiphonrat Paomaiman, also known as Aunty Pha, had appealed for his help after dodging human faeces thrown from a nearby apartment for months.

She said the man she believes is responsible tosses raw human faeces out the window of his place in soi Suea Yai (soi Ratchadaphisek 36), on a whim, making the lives of those below a misery. “We live in constant apprehension we will be struck,” she told reporters.

She moved to the area four or five months ago to be close to a hospital where her husband is receiving care. But the flying poo menace, according to neighbours, had been going on unabated for two years.

The inside of his dreadful room.

The man would toss his faeces from the window four or five times a month. Anyone who passed by on the street below could be hit. 

“We can’t park our vehicles down here, nor do we dare hang out the washing, or plant trees. Whenever he thinks of throwing it, he just throws it,” she said.

Aunty Pha, who lives on the first floor, has had to clean up faeces stains from the walls and roof of her place as no one else would take responsibility. 

She had contacted the building’s juristic entity and Phahol Yothin police, to no avail.

“I have spoken to the man’s mother, but she refuses to acknowledge that her son is to blame. She asked for evidence, which forced me to get a CCTV camera installed. It shows clearly that the projectiles come from the place that he’s in on the fourth floor. “When I go up to the landing, the place stinks of faeces. But his mother refuses to get him help or admit there’s anything wrong,” she said.

TV coverage of the saga shows projectiles being launched from the apartment.

Activist Kan, who turned up with a large black umbrella for cover, himself tried talking to the parents, and made little progress. They insisted their son, 50, was happy living hermit-like in his room, which they claim he had not left to visit the outside world in 17 years.

Despite the room having no running water or electricity, according to media reports, his mother, who lives separately about 100m away, and delivers meals to her son’s room three times a day, insisted her son was getting proper care.

Kan said the parents refused to let him in to see their son. “He is happier where he is, and we do not want him to go anywhere else,” they are said to have told him. Neither parent appeared before the media, though Kan said the father was an associate professor in psychology, and the mother herself an associate professor.

Neither lacked an education but where their son was concerned did not want to listen to reason.

Guntouch ‘Kan’ Jompalang

The activist convinced police that a search warrant was necessary for the man’s own safety. Phahol Yothin police, accompanied by Chatuchak district staff and a mental health team, forced their way into the room after the man inside refused to let them in.

Scenes of filth and degradation greeted them. The room was full of faeces and years of accumulated waste.

“There was so much rubbish strewn about that he had no room left to sleep,” reports said. Media images showed the occupant, who was painfully thin, being taken in a stretcher to Somdet Chao Phraya Hospital for treatment.

Earlier, when Kan knocked on the man’s door, he opened it slightly but he spoke gibberish and refused to let anyone in. “The parents insisted the room was in a tidy condition, but the room I glimpsed through the door was a mess,” he said.

Wiphonrat Paomaiman

Asked to explain their son’s decision to live alone and refuse to emerge from his room, the parents said he came under social pressure from those around him.

“He never finished school, and wasn’t able to find work like our other kids, so started to hide from the world,” they said, adding he was also hounded from a bus, and teased by motorcycle taxi guys in the street.

Through all of this, the parents insisted their son was not mentally ill, nor in need of care. No surprise, then, that he did not take any meds.

Asked what would happen to their son if one day his parents were not around to deliver food, the parents claimed they had entrusted his care to others. The mother added cryptically: “The room is a sacred place, should something go wrong.”

Local body inspectors in Chatuchak may charge the family under a sanitation law, reports said. The case continues.

Ex-partner rips into monk

Sittipol or Puak

A woman in Bangkok claims her ex-partner, who entered the monkhood to escape online fraudsters from whom he duped money, forced her to parade naked during video calls.

Manita, 29, contacted the FB page Sai Mai Tong Rod, whose founder, Ekapop Lueangprasert, came to her aid.

Manita says her ex-partner, Sittipol, or Puak (no surname provided) entered the monkhood on April 28 in Uthai Thani to escape online fraudsters for whom he opened a mule account to receive victims’ funds.

He refused to hand over the 50,000 baht deposited in the account and spent it himself. When the gang tried tracking him down, he took shelter in the monkhood.

Meanwhile, Phra Sittipol, whom she described as a jealous type, called her almost every day, despite his mother declaring at the start of April that she was unsuitable for her son.

Manita and Sittipol started seeing each other at the start of the year. His mother in April asked them to quit, but Sittipol, she said, persisted.

Manita said Sittipol was still talking to his ex-girlfriend when they were together, but claimed he still loved her.

Manita having a shower while talking to Sittipol

“I still had a soft spot for him, so agreed to his demands,” she said, referring to Phra Sittipol’s request after he entered the monkhood that she parade about naked for the camera.

“He called me on video call almost every day and would ask if I was with anyone else,” she said. Phra Sittipol, she said, asked her to put on the camera while she showered, ostensibly so he could make sure she was not sleeping with anyone.

However, unknown to her, he also took screenshots of her naked and shared them with other monks. He also pulled out his penis for her to look at, she said.

He sent Manita a screenshot of her naked on May 7. Manita said she was shocked, but he insisted he took the screenshot just to look at it.

The next day, however, another monk contacted her on FB to warn both of them about their behaviour. He said such conduct was not appropriate, as her ex-partner was still a monk. He had taken shots of her naked and shown them to other monks, he said.

Manita said she felt embarrassed and contacted Taling Chan police. “My ex-partner threatened me, saying he has relatives who are police and he wasn’t scared. He is also a hothead and once threatened to wreck my shop,” she added.

Activist Mr Ekapop said he would liaise with police, who were likely to call Phra Sittipol in for questioning on Computer Crimes Act charges, for importing decent images into the system.

“You are no longer laity, and doing wrong like this is bound to have consequences in the real world and the monkhood alike,” he said, referring to the monk.

Phra Sittipol spoke to reporters on the phone, denying he initiated the video calls, or forced his ex-girlfriend to put the camera on while she took a shower. “She called me herself and voluntarily took off her clothes,” he said, while admitting he took the screen shots.

“I took them for the purpose of sending her a warning that it was not a good thing to do in front of a monk,” he said. He denies sending them to other monks or pulling out his penis.

Temple elders said Phra Sittipol had acquitted himself well during his stay there. The case continues.