Double life; karaoke slaying mystery; body in the car

Heat of the moment

Sangwian Rodchan reconstructs the murder of his lover.

A married man terrified his wife would find out about an illicit affair killed his lover rather than let the secret come out.

Police nabbed Sangwian “Lek” Rodchan, 52, at his Bangkok home on Oct 22 for strangling to death his Laos lover, Panlawee (no surname given), in his home province of Uthai Thani a few days before.

Mr Sangwian, a driver who also sells second-hand motorcycles part-time, left Bangkok with his wife on Oct 17 to make merit for his late father on the third anniversary of his death.

They were due to return to Bangkok two days later, but Panlawee, his illicit lover of two months who heard about his trip, turned up in the province’s Lan Sak district first.

This forced Mr Sangwian to open a room for her at a small resort about 7km away without telling his wife and family.

He divided his time between her and his family home where he left his wife, making various excuses for his absence. On Oct 19, before he was due to leave, he claimed he was heading into the forest to pick fruit. In fact, he picked up his girlfriend from her room to see some hot springs, CCTV images show.

Panlawee, however, refused to part ways with Mr Sangwian when it came time to go. “She wanted to declare her presence as his lover to his wife and family, and wouldn’t take no for an answer,” news reports said.

Mr Sangwian, who was scared his wife would find out, lost his temper with Panlawee, and throttled her in his van. He dumped the body in a nearby cassava plantation.

Media reports say he dragged the body about 20 metres, arms and legs bound together with a nylon rope trussed around her neck. He also pulled up her shirt to cover her face, though some reports say he covered her head with a sack he found in his van.

Later, he returned with his wife to their place in Samran Rat of Bangkok and carried on with life as usual, media reports say, even meeting his friends outside the soi for a drink as if nothing had happened.

When police nabbed him on Oct 22, his shocked wife of 18 years, Mon, 45, said she knew nothing about her husband’s philandering ways or the murder which took place in Uthai Thani. Mr Sangwian said he did not intend to kill his victim but acted in the heat of the moment.

Mon, despite harbouring no suspicions about her husband’s behaviour, said she noticed a strange woman had been calling over the past month.

“Once when I asked who it was, the caller replied, “Why do you want to know?’” she told reporters. She thought the incident was odd but put it out of her mind, as she was too busy raising their two children.

Mon said her husband was a good provider and she assumed he would be too busy to bother with a woman on the side. She felt sad about what happened and wanted to apologise to the victim’s relatives.

“We can all make mistakes and forgive. My husband claims it was the spur of the moment. He was wrong, but the other side refused to yield. I would like to go home with my husband as we were before, but now it has happened I have no choice but to battle on,” she said. They have a daughter, aged 16, and a son, six.

News reports say his victim worked in Nakhon Phanom province and has three children from a previous marriage. It is unclear how they met. Police took Mr Sangwian back to Uthai Thani for a crime reconstruction. They charged him with premeditated murder and disguising a body.

Showing too much interest

The karaoke joint where the murder took place.

Relatives of a man killed at a karaoke joint in Nakhon Phanom rained curses on the man charged with his murder, as police escorted him to court.

Sri Songkram police nabbed the karaoke shop owner, Nara “Ole” Matchaiken, 52, for fatally shooting customer Phattharachai “Tom” Bunramee, 33, from Tha Uthen district, who had dared ask after his wife.

Mr Nara, seized by jealousy, shot him in the back as he was having a drink at his shop, though relatives suspect there is more to it. Phattharachai was a regular, drinking there a couple of times a month.

Mr Nara, who was waiting for police when they arrived, said he shot his victim with a 9mm calibre handgun. He claims he acted in the heat of the moment, though the two did not argue beforehand.

Phattharachai, he said, liked to joke around with his wife, 35, from Laos, and often asked after her, as he did on the day he was shot. “I was worried they would get carried away so I shot him,” he said.

Phattharachai, the victim.

Phattharachai, who was sitting with his back to the shooter, had no idea it was coming and no chance to defend himself, his family say. The victim died at the scene.

The karaoke shop, like many of its type, employs young women who sit with customers and serve them, relatives said.

“The staff at these places are supposed to look after customers. How can the suspect shoot his customer for merely asking after his wife?” one asked incredulously.

The killer knew his victim. They were close enough that Mr Nara had closed his shop on some occasions so they could carry on drinking, one said. He asked if something had occurred beforehand to set the killer off.

As police were taking Mr Nara to Nakhon Phanom court, relatives gathered outside cursed him. They said they hoped he would go to jail and his wife, over whom he was so manically protective, finds a new man.

The killer’s wife, unnamed in reports, said she was in her room at the time. Police charged him with premeditated murder.

Nasty surprise

The nurse’s car in Si Sa Ket.

A nurse in Si Sa Ket was shocked to open her car door and find the body of a woman inside. The stranger let herself in while the owner was away and later died.

Thawadee (no surname given), accidentally left her Honda Jazz unlocked early on Oct 21, close to Si Sa Ket hospital where she works.

She took a motorsai for the last leg of the journey before her shift. When she returned with her young son in tow after 6pm, she opened the back door of the vehicle to find a woman lying dead on the seat.

Thawadee said her nurse’s training told her immediately the woman, who she did not know, was dead. CCTV images at the scene show her hurriedly shepherding her son to one side while she called police.

Muang police later identified the mystery woman as Bunthida (no surname given), aged 53, who was seeing a doctor for her cerebral atrophy condition, which often left her confused, when she wandered off.

Relatives, who reported her missing, thought she was visiting the toilet when she disappeared.

CCTV images tracked down after the body was discovered show her wandering alone towards Thawadee’s car, opening the back door and climbing inside.

Bunthida, who had suffered from the condition for two years, was to die in the vehicle from unknown causes.