Slingshot man ramps it up
Lop was nabbed after stabbing Gus with a knife.
Tha Phra police nabbed Lop (no surname provided), 78, after he stabbed “Gus” (no other details provided), 13, at a friend’s place in Don Han sub-district.
Gus was walking past the old man’s place on the way to see Panwad (no surname provided), 18, an older friend and the owner of the house where the attack occurred.
Panwad said Gus often came over to hang out. However, whenever he came, old man Lop would wait nearby with a slingshot and take a shot at him.
On Aug 4, Gus was walking past Lop’s house on his way to see her when the suspect confronted the boy and threatened him with a 30cm knife still in its sheath.
He struck Gus with the sheathed knife, prompting the boy to retreat into her house.
But Lop followed him inside, pulled the knife from its sheath, and slashed the back of the boy’s neck, causing heavy bleeding and knocking him to the ground.
It is not clear what help Panward offered. However, she did ask a friend to start filming the attack on his phone so they could alert police.
It includes images of the old man holding the knife and his slingshot, and has since gone viral.
Lop put his knife away after the attack and kicked the person who was recording the incident. The wound he left in the boy’s neck was 3cm deep.
Panward said old man Lop also turned up at her place the night before, complaining young Gus had stomped past his place, making a racket.
Gus lives with his grandmother, Kaenchon (no surname provided), 57, who said Lop was known in the area for reacting aggressively to any children walking past his house.
He would often shoot at them with a slingshot, would speak to them brusquely, and appeared to have a strong dislike for children in general.
Kaenchon said Gus’s mother would now take Gus to live with her in Kalasin, as the family was worried about their safety.
Pol Col Prateep Panyawat, superintendent of Tha Phra police, said officers detained Lop the next day and seized the knife as evidence.
Lop, who admitted the offence, was charged with assault causing injury, armed trespass with intent to cause harm, and carrying a weapon in public without reasonable cause.
He was remanded to Khon Kaen provincial court for legal action.
Following the trail of death
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| The spot in the forest where J’s body was found. |
A trail runner from Chon Buri took a roundabout journey to Doi Suthep in the North as he embarked on a last trip before apparently ending his life.
The body of “J” (no name was provided), 31, was found in deep forest behind Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai forensic police, along with officers from Phuping Rajanivej police, the National Park Rescue Centre 1 (Chiang Mai), and the High Angle Rescue Club of Thailand recovered J’s body. He was discovered by a local who had gone into the forest to forage for mushrooms.
Initial checks suggested J had been dead for more than a week. The body was dressed in trail running gear — black long pants and a grey, long-sleeved shirt.
About 10 metres away, police found a black backpack containing clothes, hiking equipment, shoes, and an unopened water bottle, but not his phone, which he left in Bangkok on the first leg of his farewell journey.
The body was taken to the Forensic Medicine Department at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital.
Jittraporn Kanthi, village head of Doi Suthep, said local dogs had been howling oddly days earlier — a common sign, villagers believe, that someone has died.
After the body was found, she posted a call on social media seeking the dead man’s relatives, as no ID was found.
J’s wife contacted her, saying her husband had disappeared from Chon Buri.
When shown a photo of the recovered backpack, she burst into tears, saying she had bought the backpack for her husband.
J’s wife, Ms Jittraporn said, told her she had ended their relationship on June 12 after a troubled patch, and J evidently decided to end his life pursuing one of his favourite pastimes: running and hiking in the forest.
Piecing together his last movements, police said J travelled from Chon Buri to Bangkok, where he abandoned his car, phone, and all personal documents.
On July 13, he took a train to Chiang Mai and visited Chiang Mai City police, where he borrowed a lawyer’s phone and called his wife.
He told her she could now report him missing. After that call, no one in the family was able to reach him again, until his body was found.
His wife told police that J had a passion for trail running in the forest but suffered from chronic asthma.
The body was found about 700m off the trail between Wat Doi Suthep, Sai Yoi Waterfall, and Ban Khun Chang Khian.
It is believed he may have wandered deep into the forest on his own, and the dense vegetation, steep terrain, and rainy-season conditions could have triggered an asthma attack.
Pol Sub-Lt Somphot Noikhong, an investigator from Phuping Rajanivej station, said the cause of death is pending the result of an autopsy.
Letting it all hang out
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| The three men splayed out on the road and in the truck, oblivious to the world |
Chiang Rai motorists thought they had stumbled upon the scene of a mass accident, or worse, when they spotted a group of men slumped over by the side of the road.
In fact, it was just a bunch of drinkers who had pulled over for a rest, though the extremely relaxed poses they adopted suggested much worse to passersby, as if they had died on the spot.
Mae Sai police posted images on Facebook from the scene in which three men were found sleeping, including one bare-chested guy, spread-eagled on the road.
His two mates are also out for the count in the back of a pickup truck nearby.
At first glance, the scene resembled a brutal slaying from a horror movie, said passing motorists, who alerted police to their fears.
However, a closer look revealed certain giveaway clues: an open bottle of whisky spilt by the side of the road.
When patrol police approached, they found the men were in fact in a state of deep sleep and that no harm had come to them.
The truck itself barely made it onto the shoulder of the road before the driver was overcome by fatigue.
The men were discovered in the middle of the Mae Sai bypass road in Mae Sai subdistrict, as if it were their own personal bed.
Patrol officers woke them up, had a brief chat, and advised them to go home and rest properly.
The post quickly went viral, racking up over 1,700 likes within four hours. Netizens flocked to offer the comments, amused and bewildered in equal measure:
“Sleeping in the back of a truck is one thing, but sleeping on the road? That’s next level.”
“Well, at least they didn’t drink and drive!”
“How much did they have to drink to pass out like that?”
“Thailand: sleep anywhere you want.”
One predicted the men could expect a good tongue lashing when they staggered home to their wives.
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