Snake comes back for visit
A Myanmar labourer has apologised to his wife after she was allegedly possessed by the spirit of a vengeance-seeking snake he killed at their worker's camp in Samut Prakan.
Duangjai Hongsathong meets the dead snake.
Duangjai Hongsathong, 24, was seen writhing about on the ground screaming, her arms stretched out in front and fingers clasped together like a snake, in a clip posted to social media by a Thai man who came across the scene on July 3 in Bang Bo district, Samut Prakan.
After Duangjai fell to the ground and started writhing about in the dust, the Thai urged locals to fetch her husband, Yeewin, who moments before had killed a giant rat snake.
Yeewin and an older friend, Tinwin, beat to death and beheaded the 1.5m long snake, though they denied intending to eat it as early media reports claimed, but merely to eliminate it as a potential pest.
The clip was aired widely in the media, with TV channels sending reporters to speak to the protagonists.
The Thai man filming the episode is heard urging locals also to bring back an incense stick and other sacred objects so they could apologise to Duangjai. The spirit of the snake, he said, had occupied the young woman's body out of anger at being killed.
He also asks Duangjai her name, so locals could make merit for her correctly as she contorted on the ground.
Locals fetched a food offering and sprinkled on her body what looked like sacred water. But as they tried to appease her, she spat: "Don't go meddling with me. I'm pregnant!"
On Amarin TV in Bangkok, stunned women news presenters asked if this meant Duangjai was pregnant. "No, that was the snake talking to the locals in human language they could understand," a male co-presenter assures them.
"If the snake was pregnant and they killed it, that's an even bigger sin," his co-host replies.
Meanwhile, on Channel 8, presenters of another news show looked shocked to hear the supernatural event did not take place in remote Mae Sot of Tak province on the border with Myanmar as initially claimed, but in fact transpired much closer to home, in Samut Prakan.
At the start of the clip which set off the drama, Yeewin's older friend Tinwin, 47, who was the first to find the snake, goes past on his pushbike, the dead reptile trailing behind him, apparently oblivious as Duangjai is slithering on the ground.
When locals bring him back on his bike, Duangjai turns towards him from her position lying on her belly, as if eyeing her prey.
One of the locals witnessing the scene, having taken the dead snake from Tinwin, lays its carcass on the ground next to her, but when that fails to appease her, drapes the snake's body on her legs and in the drama of the moment even tosses it on her.
This throws Duangjai into convulsions and she starts screaming, obviously unhappy to come into contact with the snake. "No, don't do that, she doesn't like it!" the Thai says, issuing a constant stream of instructions to the stunned villagers. "She's not drunk, this is for real," he adds.
Yeewin and Tinwin are later seen on their knees, bowing and prostrating themselves before Duangjai. Moments later, she stops screaming, gets to her feet and hobbles away, the spirit of the snake apparently having left her as quickly as it entered.
The Thai man speaking in the clip urges the pair to take the snake to the temple so they can make merit before a monk and the reptile can be born again. "But whatever you do, don't eat it!" he says, as the snake would not be happy.
Speaking later, Duangjai said she was possessed twice, though no one filmed the first event. Before she fell to the ground she felt as if she was being squeezed and her body constricted. "I started to feel claustrophobic and couldn't breathe," she said, adding her family had taught her never to harm snakes.
Many people in Myanmar, she said, regard snakes as supernatural or divine creatures. They also believe in phaya naga, the serpent-like creatures thought to live in the Mekong River.
As the snake's spirit entered her body she felt as if she couldn't walk properly and urged her husband to hurry back. Moments later she collapsed. "I wasn't aware of what happened after that, but locals told me and showed me the clip," she said.
Yeewin recounted the moment when his friend Tinwin found the snake. "When he came across the snake he struck it four or five times but fell. The snake came back and tried to get him, so I grabbed a stick and struck it over the head, killing it." Both had apologised to the snake.
Local pest meets bloody end
A former policeman is facing a murder charge after he killed a local trouble-maker who marched into his shop and beat a customer over the head with the butt of his handgun.
Somporn Sornsun
Yasothon police have charged Pol Sub Lt Somporn Sornsun, 71, who since retirement has run a grocery shop in front of his home in Soi Banangjerm, Muang district, with intentionally killing Sarawut Netrhann or "Noom" Maneedaeng, 37, a neighbour who locals say enjoyed picking fights with strangers.
Pol Sub Lt Somporn said he was serving in the shop on the night of July 6 when Sarawut, who was drunk, entered the shop and started arguing with the customer. He threatened him with a Sparta knife, and beat him over the head with his gun. When Pol Sub Lt Somporn stepped in to try to stop the row, Sarawut shot at him, but drew a blank.
"I stepped in as things weren't looking good, but Noom started threatening me with his gun and knife," he said. "When I was cornered I pulled out my own gun and shot him once in the groin. He fled and collapsed in a pool of blood in front of the shop," Pol Sub Lt Somporn said.
He said Sarawut was already unhappy with him when he refused to sell him alcohol on Buddhist Lent day. Police called to the scene found the injured customer at the mouth of the soi nursing a broken head, and sent him to hospital.
Pol Sub Lt Somporn, who has also been charged with firing a weapon without good reason in a public place, said he shot Sarawut in self-defence and did not mean to kill him. He presented the title deed for his property to secure bail, set at 500,000 baht.
Sarawut and he were friends, he said, and he had known his mother, who lived nearby, for years. He admitted Sarawut liked to cause trouble with customers, but he had thought nothing of it before because they knew each other.
As monks and relatives gathered at Sarawut's home the next day to prepare his body for funeral rites, his elder brother, Nattawut, 39, said the victim lived alone at the two-storey house, which his mother bought for him. He had no job and suffers a minor psychological disorder, he said.
Sources told the media that Sarawut owned a pickup truck and a motorcycle, both modified for street racing. His place was a hangout for local teens who would join him to drink virtually every night. "He argues with people who pass in front of his place or visit Somporn's shop. He goes in picking fights and assaulting them," they said.
Cat care bill mounting up
The Lao labourer who rescued a cat after it was hit by a car and has offered to pay its medical expenses himself may be stuck with the bill after an appeal to netizens fell short.
Sommit 'Bunthiang' Duangprajan and the rescued cat
Writing on social media, Thatborworn "Terl" Lertpornsuksawat on June 29 shared the tale of the labourer, Sommit "Bunthiang" Duangprajan, or Bun for short, who turned up at a city medical clinic having just seen a cat getting hit on the road.
Bun was on his bicycle but dumped it by the road as he placed the injured cat in a sack and took a taxi to the nearest vet. The vet was initially reluctant to accept the animal as he could see Bun was a labourer and may not be able to afford the bill, which he put at 8,000 baht. "Bun started begging, and said he had just 1,000 baht with him. He offered to withdraw the rest as an advance against his wages," Terl said.
Pet owners in the waiting area including Terl started to feel sorry for Bun, so offered to chip in for the medical bill, raising 9,000 baht. "I said if there's anything I can do, get in touch, but Bun said we had done enough, and he would take care of the rest," Terl said, adding Bun made just 300 baht a day as a labourer and he admired his generosity.
Updating followers last week, Terl said the animal was under the care of the Mahakakorn Animal Hospital in Tha Phra. He said Bun had raised 18,140 baht for its care, drawn from pet owners at the clinic who chipped in, and another 9,140 baht from well-wishers who read Terl's appeal and sent money to the clinic. The bill as of July 3 stood at 14,681 baht.
"However, the cat will need long-term care; the remaining 3,000 baht won't be enough," he said. The cat's condition was still a concern, as it has a broken hard palate and can't feed itself. If the balance does not improve, Bun could be stuck with the bill. Asked for another update on Thursday, Terl referred to the details above.
