Lotto saga packs punch, fatal canal fight, FB blooper

Revenge is sweet

The charred saleng.

A Roi Et man whose wife left him two years ago for another man, absconding with his lotto winnings, exacted his revenge when the two clashed in a row over a torched vehicle.

Thawat Buri police nabbed Manij Pranee, 51, and his son (no name given), 19, for murdering Prawit Sumapaso, 43, at the victim’s house in Ko Kaeo, Selaphum district.

Police say the pair stabbed Prawit to death after he burnt a saleng vehicle and sidecar which Mr Manij had earlier bought his former wife, Angkanarat Klanmanee, 47.

Manij Pranee

The victim and Ms Angkanarat were living together at the time of the attack, reports said, but an argument earlier that day led to him torching the vehicle in a fit of pique.

While the vehicle blaze was the immediate impetus for the attack, Mr Manij said his rage had been festering ever since Ms Angkanarat took off with Prawit and his lotto riches two years ago. “I gave them a chance and let them live together, but he went and set fire to the saleng I bought her,” he told reporters. “It was just deserts.”

Ms Angkanarat said Prawit destroyed the saleng after getting drunk and arguing with her on May 5. She told her ex-husband Mr Manij what happened, and together with their son and a relative, they went to Selaphum police.

On the way back, they dropped into the house she shares with Prawit in Ban Khok Kung village. Mr Manij, who forced his way inside, demanded to know why Prawit set fire to the vehicle. Prawit, he said, attacked him with a knife.

He struck back in self-defence, he claimed, denying witness claims that his son also took part in the killing. Prawit was found with 10 stab wounds to his body, and his left hand was almost completely severed.

The killing brought to an abrupt end a complex triangular love affair in which Ms Angkanarat at one point was living with two husbands, Mr Manij and Therdsak (no surname given), an invalid ex-soldier, before leaving home supposedly with her fling.

Angkanarat Klanmanee

Husband No 2, as news reports called Therdsak, had been with Ms Angkanarat for 10 years when she left home to live with Prawit. He later filed for a divorce.

Ms Angkanarat, Prawit, and Mr Manij, however, were still bound up in each other’s lives until the saleng fire drama forced matters to a head.

News reports last week say Ms Angkanarat and Prawit, husband No 3, ran away together shortly after Mr Manij won the 6 million baht first prize in the state lottery on Nov 1, 2022. She met Prawit at a dating site, they said.

Two years ago, Mr Manij, who has three children with Ms Angkanarat and had been with her 27 years, transferred the money to her account after they collected the winnings at the lottery office. He asked her to transfer back 1 million baht to make merit for monks, and another 100,000 baht for his own expenses, which she did. Another 1 million baht went on paying off their debts, reports said.

Shortly after they made merit for the monks, Ms Angkanarat vanished, supposedly with a secret admirer who turned up at the monks’ function and stayed on for a few days. He referred to himself as a relative, though the couple’s middle child said he heard later from a neighbour that the visitor behaved more like a secret lover.

Meanwhile, when Mr Manij checked with the bank, he found his absent wife had quietly withdrawn 2 million baht from the account. Ms Angkanarat claimed she was visiting Nong Khai province for a few days, but her son called to chastise her for taking off with a secret lover. Later he and his father went before the media in Bangkok to sound off, forcing her abrupt return.

Ms Angkanarat later reconciled with her husband, claiming she withdrew the 2 million baht to make merit and denying she left him for a secret lover. She transferred back to him 3 million baht, half of which they put into bank accounts to pay for their kids’ education. He kept the rest himself, so left her 100,000 baht for her own use.

Mr Manij, who appeared with her jointly before the TV cameras holding their own bankbooks, said his wife agreed to the deal on condition he move out of the house in three days. However, the two stayed in touch.

News reports say she moved in with Prawit. Though news reports two years ago were mute on the identity of her lover, and even accepted her claims upon her return that she had never found anyone, by last week when Prawit and Mr Manij clashed, all that had changed.

When Mr Manij recently moved back to the village where Ms Angkanarat was living with Prawit, reports said, she and Prawit started to argue, as Prawit resented her visits to her ex-husband. The owner of the rented house where the stabbing took place, Thongluen Prasertsang, said he saw both Mr Manij and his son attack Prawit. News reports say Mr Manij went armed with a machete, and his son a knife. Police charged the pair with jointly murdering Prawit.

Perils of teen love

The canal where the attack took place.

A 33-year-old man in Pathum Thani was killed by his teen lover’s friends after an encounter under a bridge erupted into violence.

Klong Luang police arrested “A” and “B”, both 15, who gave themselves up after killing Theerawut Kongkhathong, 33, under a bridge on Highway No 9 (Kanchanaphisek Road).

Theerawut, who worked in Bang Pa-in district of Ayutthaya, had earlier contacted his girlfriend, “C”, following an argument. The pair agreed to split up, but Theerawut asked for the return of a phone he had given her, and the two sides agreed to meet under the bridge, on Liab Klong Sam Road in Klong Sam district.

Theerawut turned up with a friend on the back of his bike, while C, for the sake of safety, invited two teen friends, both aged 15. They met on the night of May 4. Perhaps predictably, the two started to argue again, and Theerawut apparently hit her with his motorcycle helmet. The teens sprang to her defence, with one attacking Theerawut with a knife.

Theerawut jumped into the river, but his attacker followed him. It was only when a passerby saw the commotion and called out that the teens stopped and fled. By that time the victim was dead. Police charged the teen attackers with jointly killing the man.

It’s all in the look

Noppanat is arrested

A young man in Bangkok who attacked a stranger with a knife simply for looking at him was caught months later when his girlfriend betrayed their location via a social media post.

Commandos in Pathum Thani nabbed Noppanat Pansaen, 22, last week after he fled to the province following the attack on Thanandon Bunphan, 59, on Aug 11 last year. 

The attack took place in Bang Chan sub-district of Klong Sam Wa, leaving the man with serious injuries. Mr Thanandon said he was heading out for drinks at a friend’s place when two young men went past on a motorcycle. 

“I looked at them to see if I recognised the pair, but they took exception to that,” he told reporters. They returned and confronted him. “What are you looking at, or do you want trouble?” one young man asked provocatively.

Mr Thanandon cursed him, which led to the men attacking him with a knife and a plank of wood. “They knocked me out and the next thing I knew, I was in Nopparat Rajathanee Hospital,” he said later. A bystander came to his aid and he complained to police.

Officers looking for the suspect’s whereabouts heard that Mr Noppanat had fled to live with his girlfriend, but had yet to find out where. 

“His girlfriend then put up a story on FB which said they were visiting a temple in Pathum Thani. Officers saw the post, which led to his arrest,” one officer said. Mr Noppanat said the victim had cursed them, and they were drunk. Police charged Mr Noppanat with attempting to kill.