After a childhood spent moving from one household to another, Pornthip "Rung" Kulnanun thought that she was set to finally settle down at the home of her birth mother. The 10-year-old girl had been moving around since she was born.
Supaporn Nontra, Rung's mother, is originally from Roi Et in the Northeast. The 31-year-old was once married to Piroj Kulnanun, the father of Rung. The couple raised their daughter together briefly before separating when Rung turned three years old.
The little girl was taken to Phitsanulok to live with her grandparents from her father's side. Wallop and Pramoon Kulnanun cared for Rung until she turned 10 years old. After that, she moved to Roi Et to live with her grandparents from her mother's side.
"Rung was a quiet girl but a very good girl," Saisamorn Jongsongchai, Supaporn's mother and Rung's grandmother, said. "She always helped my husband and I with housework.
"When my daughter Supaporn came to visit in April this year, she told me she would just be taking Rung for a summer vacation. But she never returned Rung to me. She decided that she would raise her by herself in Samut Prakan where she worked."
After Rung moved to Samut Prakan with her mother, her extended family stopped hearing news about her. They assumed Rung had settled into a happy life with her mother until June 14 when both sets of grandparents were contacted to identify the body of the girl who turned out to be their granddaughter.
"If I knew what her mother would end up doing to her, I would never have let Rung go of in the first place," said Saisamorn. "Her death has been such a tragic event for my family. I can't believe my own daughter would do something like this to her baby."
AT A LOSS
Rung's body was laid to rest at Wat Mongkolnimitr in Samut Prakan's Bang Sao Thong district. Her three-day long funeral took place last week, and she was cremated last Sunday.
The ceremony was funded by donations from villagers in Ban Sao Thong. Many of them had never met Rung since she was new to the area, but they had caught glimpses of the girl and could see signs that she suffered from abuse.
"I sometimes saw Rung when she came to buy snacks from my store," said a local grocery shop owner who wanted to remain anonymous. "She didn't say much but I could tell that she was a good and polite girl.
"But the poor girl -- everyone in the neighborhood could see that she was always covered in bruises on her arms, legs and forehead. Some of us in the neighbourhood even witnessed her mother hit her with a long bamboo cane on the head. She would also grab her daughter's hair and bang her head on the floor several times."
Seated in front of Rung's coffin, Pramoon told Spectrum that she couldn't believe a mother could hurt her own daughter to the degree that she did.
"Rung was a very sweet girl," Pramoon said. "She grew up with the loving care of her dad and they were very close. They did things and went to places together all the time. She was a sunny girl. I still remember her smile and how she always helped me around the house.
"But Rung's personality completely changed after her dad died recently. She became a really quiet girl and seemed sad all the time. As soon as her mum's family in Roi Et took her away, I never heard from Rung again -- not even one phone call."
After Pramoon received news of Rung's death, she rushed to Bangkok to take care of the ceremony and death certificate.
While at the temple, Rung's Roi Et family showed off two short video clips of Rung speaking into a camera, explaining how much she missed her father. She pled to the camera, asking for answers to why he had to leave her behind and when she could see him again.
"The video was the saddest thing I've ever seen," Pramoon said. "All she ever wanted was love from her parents. She didn't deserve any of this violence. I won't forgive Supaporn. I wish she could face the death penalty and follow her daughter to apologise to her."
ACTING ALONE
After Rung's body was found floating in Samut Prakan's Khlong Samrong, the canal that runs in front of the house where the little girl used to live with her mother, the police started the investigation.
Rung's body was found on June 11 around 4pm, the same day Supaporn and her new husband Wajarun Tatsawan moved out of their rented home in Samut Prakan. The couple relocated to Saraburi province's Phra Phutthabat district.
When the police found her body floating in the canal, her face had decomposed, making her difficult to identify. She could only be recognised by her red and white striped pants.
The investigators in Samut Prakan contacted the Saraburi police to arrest Supaporn and Wajarun. They were arrested on June 14 and sent to Samut Prakan, where they are now being held and questioned.
Pol Lt Gen Chanthep Saesawed, the Commander of Provincial Police Region 1 based in Bangkok, told Spectrum that Supaporn committed the crime alone with no help from her husband. She confessed to the police that she'd beaten Rung out of anger and jealousy.
"Supaporn told us that Rung was a bad girl and that she lied a lot," Lt Gen Chanthep said. "She said she did it to punish her for being a naughty girl so that she would learn not to be bad again. She also confessed that she felt uncomfortable seeing Rung get too close to her new husband. She didn't like when they went out fishing together."
Supaporn told police that she would hit her daughter on a near daily basis -- as much as more than 10 strikes at a time. She would often use her hands, but occasionally used a bamboo cane.
On the day Rung died, Supaporn used the bamboo cane to strike her on the head several times. By the next day, Rung's face was completely swollen. Her mother locked her up at home before heading to work on June 8. That day, Rung told her mother she was suffering from a severe headache.
"Supaporn told the police that Rung slept all day since she felt sick," Lt Gen Chanthep explained. "She went to work and came home on June 8 to find Rung still sleeping at home. She apparently hadn't woken up to eat at all. On June 9, Supaporn went out to work as usual until 5pm when her husband called her to tell that Rung was dead.
"Supaporn came home 30 minutes after the phone call and found out that Rung had really died. She covered her body with a blanket before going out to buy dinner for her other two children, Rung's half-siblings. They left the body lying there until the next day. They waited until 1am before taking Rung's body out. They wrapped her with a blanket and tied it with a long string. Then they stuffed a big rock into a bag attached to Rung's body before throwing her into the canal."
Supaporn says she has acted alone throughout the whole ordeal. However, police don't believe her story. Police say her husband abused drugs. Both are now awaiting trial for the case.
IN DEFENCE
Much like the investigation, the autopsy is an ongoing process. Pornchai Sutheerakhun, chief of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Police General Hospital, told Spectrum that it's hard to determine the precise cause of Rung's death as her body was so badly decomposed.
"Initially, we wrote on the death certificate that she suffocated to death," Dr Pornchai explained. "We found bruises all over her body. But she was decomposed by the time she was found, so it is difficult to determine the cause of death. We ended up cutting out some body tissues to analyse in the lab. The results should come out soon."
Youth social worker Ticha Na Nakorn told Spectrum that Rung may have "lied" to her mother as a defence mechanism to avoid getting hurt.
"Rung wasn't a bad girl," Ticha explained. "She likely lied to her mum just to avoid getting hit more. Rung was a passive girl and she was still suffering from the loss of her father. There are many parents who feel like they have the absolute right to hit their children. Meanwhile, our children are taught to be submissive to their parents. Many don't know the different between love and abuse.
"I feel bad for everyone in this situation. It's very possible that Supaporn simply couldn't understand Rung's attachment to her stepfather. She got jealous seeing Rung get close to her husband because she didn't understand that Rung was trying to access a father-daughter relationship that she'd lost long ago. When she moved in with her, she felt comfortable with her stepfather because of the familiar feel of her past father-daughter relationship."
Ticha says that it's time to teach children how to ask for help when they are facing abuse, be it by strangers or family members. Schools, in particular, should step up and participate in educating students about abuse so that children are not afraid to reach out.
"Rung didn't ask for help because she was new to the community," Ticha said. "The sense of belonging wasn't there yet when the abuse begun by her mum. Family sizes have grown smaller nowadays, but also less close-knit. Most parents don't know their children as intimately.
"Since family is the most important sphere of life for shaping children's behaviour, I encourage everyone to raise their children with love and understanding so that we won't see another tragic event like this happen again.
"Then our children will grow up to be good people and become important players in shaping the future of our nation."
Rung's ashes have been taken to Roi Et for a merit-making ceremony.
Despite her anger, Pramoon has finally forgiven Supaporn for Rung's sake.
"I can only forgive her now because I want Rung to be able to rest in peace. I don't want her to feel my anger towards her mum. I hope that Rung can find her peace and finally be with her father again as she always hoped for," Pramoon said.
praying for peace: Pornthip 'Rung' Kulnanun's grandmother prays where her young granddaughter's body was found in a Samut Prakan canal. photos: (Bangkok Post photo)
Family members pay respect to Rung. She was laid to rest at Wat Mongkolnimitr in Samut Prakan's Bang Sao Thong district. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
Rung's body had badly decomposed by the time it was found in the canal. (Photo by Sutthiwit Chayutworakarn)