Last Hua Hin attacker apologises as Brits prepare to leave

Last Hua Hin attacker apologises as Brits prepare to leave

Deputy national police chief Wuthi Liptapallop, left, interrogates Chaiya Jaiboon at the Hua Hin police station in Prachuap Khiri Khan province on Friday. (Photo by Chaiwat Satyaem)
Deputy national police chief Wuthi Liptapallop, left, interrogates Chaiya Jaiboon at the Hua Hin police station in Prachuap Khiri Khan province on Friday. (Photo by Chaiwat Satyaem)

A 20-year-old arrested Thursday for his role in the brutal beating of an elderly British family in Hua Hin today apologised for allegedly putting the pensioners in the hospital.

Chaiya Jaiboon

Senior national police officers went to Hua Hin police station in Phrachuap Khiri Khan, on Friday to interrogate Chaiya Jaiboon before the Lewis Owen, 68, and his wife Rosemary, 65, return to the United Kingdom May 3.

The suspect was the fourth and final man arrested for the violent Songkran festival attack on the couple and their 43-year-old son John outside a temple in the early hours of April 13. The altercation reportedly began after John bumped into one of the drunk assailants.

Police said Mr Chaiya, arrested at his house in nearby Pranburi district, admitted he and his friends had been intoxicated and thought one of the tourists had hit one of his friends.

The suspect pressed his palms together in a traditional wai gesture and repeatedly apologised to the people of Hua Hin and Thailand, and to the foreign family. He said he regretted what he had done.

Three other suspects -- Suphatra Baithong, Yingyai Saengkham-in, both aged 32, and Siwa Noksri, 20 --  were arrested and also apologised earlier.

Deputy national police chief Wuthi Liptapallop said at the Hua Hin police station that the case was closed and the surveillance-camera footage was important evidence.

He said he ordered police to prevent such incidents from recurring in all tourist destinations, especially Hua Hin, an important attraction.

Pol Gen Wuthi admitted that officer numbers were limited in tourist resorts and that he would propose more deployments.

Hua Hin police continued to visit Mr Owen and wife Rosemary, who was resting in her hotel, recovering from a serious head injury. The couple will leave Thailand on May 3.

Their son, who left earlier as planned, told the Daily Mirror newspaper in the UK on Thursday night that he and his parents will never return to the kingdom.

"We were all unconscious. My mum did not even realise she had been kicked in the face. I did not know my head had been stamped on," he told the paper, saying they had been knocked out and didn't realise the brutality of the attack until they saw the video days later.

John Owen said his father suffered two black eyes and received six stitches to the forehead. He said he had 16 stitches on his head in three areas. His mother suffered fluid on the brain that needed drained.

"I'm not going back to Thailand again. Mum and dad won't be either. Never, ever again."

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