‘Too scared to stop’
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| Plucky Perl points out the scrape on Porn’s vehicle. |
Ratree, also known as Porn (no surname given), 38, faces multiple charges after fleeing the scene of the July 24 accident with a pickup truck in the Dusit district.
The motorist whose pickup she hit, Perl (no surname given), 56, was left with bruising to her legs and left rib cage after she grabbed the bonnet of Porn’s Honda Brio on Ratchawithi Road to stop it fleeing. She was dragged along the road as Porn fled towards Krung Thon Bridge.
“I thought I would die for sure, but I had only second-class insurance, which means I would need her cooperation to file a damages claim,” Perl said later. The dramatic scenes were captured on video by a motorcycle delivery guy who came to Perl’s aid.
The chase carried on for hundreds of metres, including a break at Kan Ruean intersection when Porn managed to shake Perl from her vehicle temporarily. After the two argued briefly about the accident, she resumed dragging her along the road soon after.
Perl, worried for her safety, eventually decided to let go of Porn’s vehicle. Later, a delivery guy pursuing the vehicle managed to cut in front of Porn’s car, before she took off once again. Bizarrely, she fled back to Kanchanaburi where she lives, before returning to Bangkok last week after the saga hit the headlines.
Recounting the saga, Perl said she grabbed the bonnet of the Brio after Porn ran into the back of her pickup. “I lowered the window to talk, but she would not get out. I followed and when she slowed at an intersection, I ran towards her vehicle.
“She still would not talk, so I decided to block the path of her car by jumping on its front. I am lucky that motorcycle guys saw the incident and started chasing her, which forced her to slow down.”
When Porn stopped the first time, Perl pointed to the Brio’s damaged right front, to show that she had indeed hit her. But Porn refused to talk, got back in the vehicle and kept driving, even with her on the bonnet.
Perl was screaming as Porn dragged her along the road, as motorcycle delivery guys, amid much tooting of horns and shouting, called out to her to get off the vehicle for her own safety. After abandoning her quest, she took a motorcycle taxi back to the pickup and filed a complaint with Dusit police.
The motorcycle rider who took the video, Kittisak, or Boss (no surname given), 31, said he was waiting at the lights at U Thong Nai intersection when he saw a motorist grab the bonnet of the Brio. “She dragged her along until the Kan Ruean intersection, when the Brio driver got out to insist she did not hit her.
“She looked angry, with hard eyes. She got back in and dragged the motorist along some more. She ran two red lights, at Kan Ruean and Sang Hi Road, as I followed trying to get her to stop,” he said.
When Perl and Porn met at Dusit station on July 30, Porn offered her a wai of apology, and said she would also like to apologise to the public. She denied taking drugs before the incident, though said she had taken a handful of sleeping pills and was feeling groggy.
She was initially willing to stop, she said, but decided against when she realised she did not have a licence to drive the Brio. She wasn’t from Bangkok, and also feared for her safety if she stopped. She fled to Kanchanaburi to give herself time to raise bail money for the charges she knew would follow.
Perl, who has been unable to work since the accident and is losing 1,000-2,000 baht a day, said Porn did not offer to pay her for the damage or lost wages.
The owner of the Brio, Te (no surname given), 26, who lives in Kanchanaburi, said Porn, a friend, often borrowed the car for errands. On the day of the accident she took it to Bangkok to look for work.
He was not surprised to hear that she fled as Porn is a nervy type who was easily frightened, he said. Police charged Perl initially with dangerous driving, fleeing the scene of an accident, and assault. She was released on bail as they build their case.
Some mothers do ’ave ’em
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| Suspect Kongkiart at the station. |
A Lop Buri man is refusing to admit blame after a witness saw him douse a village head and two others in petrol, leading to a fiery blaze in which one of his victims died.
Kongkiart, or Tob (no surname given), 40, accused police of framing him for the July 29 inferno opposite the village head’s office in Ngio Rai sub-district which also left two injured.
However, his mother, who put up fierce resistance to her son being arrested before finally relenting, said her son is psychiatrically ill. He had served five years for a murder conviction and was beaten up inside jail, she said. When he emerged, he was never the same again.
The intended target was thought to be village head Narongsak Pool-on, 42, with whom Kongkiart, who also has a history of drug use, had fallen out.
He and two others were sitting outside a local’s house opposite the village head’s office when Kongkiart turned up on a motorcycle, filled a 15 litre paint tub with benzene from a coin-operated bowser, and doused their drinking circle with it.
The second man at the table, Sathit Poolchin, 60, was striking a match to light a cigarette. The fumes set off the blaze, in which Mr Narongsak and Sathit were critically injured.
The third man at their gathering, also the house owner, Boonmee Patphet, 60, was heading to the toilet, so was spared the worst of it. He suffered burns to his left leg.
Sathit later died in hospital after suffering burns to 90 per cent of his body, and doctors have similarly told Narongsak’s family to prepare for the worst.
Mr Boonmee said he saw Kongkiart turn up and fill the tub with petrol. He also saw him walk over and tip the petrol on the men, after telling Mr Boonmee to get out of the way.
“The blaze took hold quickly. The two men were crying out in pain. Locals came to help put out the fire, and took them to hospital,” he said.
Ban Kum police surrounded the accused’s house and negotiated with him for nine hours before his mother brought him out. Mr Narongsak and Kongkiart, once close friends, fell out after Kongkiart suspected he complained to police about his drug habit.
In fact, as village head, Mr Narongsak would have to accompany police to Kongkiart’s house whenever a complaint was laid against him.
This led Kongkiart to believe that Mr Narongsak was behind all his troubles, said Mr Narongsak’s uncle, Wirath (no surname given), 55.
As Kongkiart’s condition worsened — he had even beaten up his Dad — Mr Narongsak started to distance himself. News video caught Kongkiat at the station, shouting and cursing. He insisted he was innocent and had been at home on the night of the blaze.
A drug test turned positive for speed. Police charged Kongkiart initially with arson, assault, and drug use. Following Sathit’s death in hospital, he’s also likely to face charges of premeditated murder.
In news footage, Kongkiart initially appears nonchalant as police apply handcuffs. However, he refuses to walk out to the van taking him to court, so police and rescue workers had to carry him. His mother, unnamed in news reports, turned up as they were carrying him out, and started cursing police and aiming kicks at the van.
The case continues.
Have EM bracelet, will travel
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| A Chon Buri tomboy with an EM device pinched a gas tank. |
An electronic monitoring bracelet was no barrier for a tomboy in Chon Buri who decided to go on a petty thieving splurge.
Bang Lamung police nabbed Rossukon “Mind” Kraiyod, 30, for stealing a 4kg tank of cooking gas from a som tum shop at the mouth of soi 6 in Nong Yai district.
A CCTV camera caught the action as she turned up on a motorcycle, hefted the cylinder between her legs, and drove off. Police caught her later at her place in Na Kluea sub-district where they found the cooking tank secreted alongside her bed.
She was also wearing an EM tag on her left leg, they discovered, after securing bail recently on a fraud charge. She was freed on condition that she wear the bracelet so police could keep an eye on her movements. In fact, they found following her arrest that as well as stealing the gas tank, she had also stolen parts from coin-operated washing machines in the area three times.
As for the cooking gas, she said she wanted to make herself a meal with it. At the time she was caught, she had yet to devise a “menu” (as the Thai put it, describing the dish she wanted to eat), so had to go without. Police charged her with theft.
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