Like swatting a fly
A Chanthaburi man says he feels remorse after killing his teenage son's best friend with a rake.
Sitthisak 'Jeff' Sakhong
Tossaporn Phutcheep, 46, attacked his son Kim and his friend, Sitthisak "Jeff" Sakhong, 18, outside his home on Feb 10 after arguing with his wife. His house is set in a fruit orchard in Klong Narai of Muang district.
Mr Tossaporn was feeling stressed after accusing his wife of taking an improper interest in another man. Coincidentally, Jeff, who was in the front yard, remarked on smoke from a fire which Mr Tossaporn had lit to dispose of some rubbish. "Who would light a fire around here?," Jeff said innocently, referring to smoke filling the area.
Mr Tossaporn, who overheard the remark, abused the lad, setting off an argument with Jeff. After his son joined in to defend his friend, Mr Tossaporn grabbed a rake and started attacking the pair.
He hit both his son and Jeff about the head until both lay injured on the ground. Young Jeff, a frequent visitor to the home and Kim's best friend, died from his head injuries.
Mr Tossaporn hit the lad so hard that the rake was left bent, and the lad's teeth scattered about the bushes nearby. In the best Thai tradition, the killer fled on his motorbike to regain his composure as relatives called the police.
Following his arrest, Mr Tossaporn said he didn't club them over the head with the rake, merely swung it about from side to side. However, the damage was done. His own son's condition was unclear though early reports said he was seriously injured.
Tossaporn Phutcheep, inset, performs a crime re-enactment for police.
"I love my son and wife dearly and tell them often. However, it was a spur of the moment thing," he said. Mr Tossaporn's wife, Nuu, was also injured after trying to stop the attack.
A friend of the boys, Sarawut Sukkrajang, 17, was also visiting that day when Mr Tossaporn, who had drank three bottles of beer but insists he was not drunk, started arguing with his wife.
Sarawut said he and the other lads were outside playing on their phones. After Jeff argued with Mr Tossaporn about the smoke, and the argument abated briefly, he urged his friend to apologise.
Sarawut said he went out to buy some goods from a nearby store. By the time he had returned, Mr Tossasporn had attacked Jeff and Kim with the rake. "Mr Tossaporn was standing there with the rake. He exclaimed, 'If I have to go to jail for this, I am willing,' before tossing the weapon aside and taking off on the bike," he said.
It fell to Mr Tossaporn's injured wife to seek help.
Defending himself, Mr Tossaporn said Jeff was a frequent visitor and could stay for up to a week at a time. He and his son spoke to him brusquely, and also liked a drink.
That account of Jeff's behaviour was disputed by relatives, however. Speaking from his funeral at Wat Pa Uthum Porn in Chaman, Makham, "Jaa", an elder sister-in-law of the victim, says Jeff was a funny and good natured lad.
"He was not a wild one, and never caused anyone any trouble. He would go around to Kim's place often, and vice versa. However, he wasn't there for months at a time and nor was he a drinker, despite what the media was told," she said. Relatives asked how Mr Tossaporn, an adult, was able to exercise so little self-control.
Mr Tossaporn's wife Nuu had called to apologise for her husband's actions, she said. Police charged Mr Tossaporn with intentional killing, and attempting to kill.
Drug deal in the bushes
Police have arrested a Mukdahan man after he accidentally shot a friend of his wife's in an argument over his supposed philandering.
Suphattra Butamka, left, and her husbabnd, Somjit Butamka
Suphattra Butamka, 43, walked into a forest at the end of the couple's village in Rom Klao, Nikhom Kham Soi to confront her husband, Somjit Butamka, also 43, whom she believed was secretly seeing a woman friend among the trees.
Ms Suphattra, accompanied by a friend, Naree Chompo, had her phone at the ready to film the encounter with his kik, or illicit love interest.
Mr Somjit, noticing the phone, warned his wife away with the long-barrelled "cap" gun he takes with him to shoot wildlife. The pair started wrestling for control of the weapon when it accidentally went off, hitting Ms Naree in the left hip.
The pair called a rescue team to send Ms Naree to hospital, who was treated for her injury and is now out of danger.
Speaking later to the media, Ms Suphattra said she was wrong about the kik, and the episode was the result of a misunderstanding.
The woman her husband was seeing in the forest that day, it turns out, was actually his drug dealer.
"My husband started getting involved in drugs about a month ago. He was secretly seeing his dealer among the trees but didn't want me to find out."
A neighbour, Lamai Chaisut, 60, said Mr Somjit was a good man. She had never heard rumours of him straying and nor had she heard the couple argue.
Nikhom Kham Soi police laid drug charges against Mr Somjit. His wife paid his bond.
"I am bailing him out as it is his first offence and I am giving him a chance to redeem himself," she said at the station.
Taking a bomb for a ride
Police have charged a man with tossing a ping pong bomb at a city meatball shop after doubting his claims it merely fell from his pocket.
Police nabbed Bai 'Bank' Ketkaew and a 17-year-old teenager for tossing the bomb.
On Feb 12, Huai Khwang police said they had arrested Bai "Bank" Ketkaew, 28, for tossing the device into the shop at the mouth of Soi Pracha Uthit 12 four days before.
They also nabbed a 17-year-old but after determining he had nothing to do with the crime, let him go.
Mr Bank claimed he found the bomb discarded in some bushes and was taking it to a safe place to dispose of the device.
He suspected the bomb was discarded by the Din Daeng anti-government protesters. "As I was biking past the shop it fell from my pocket and went off," he claimed.
Sceptical neighbours said the blast went off with terrific force, shattering the shop's glass frontage and damaging goods inside. "If it fell from his pocket it would have gone off on the road, not inside the shop," one said. "He clearly threw it at the entrance."
CCTV footage caught the moment of the blast inside the shop. Another camera outside showed the tarpaulin in front shake as the bomb went off. No one was present at the time, though the owner is often accompanied by a young child when she is there.
Police charged him with detonating the device, posing a danger to others, and damaging items in the shop. They sought court permission to hold him for a 12-day initial period of detention as inquiries continue, and opposed bail.
The patient can wait
A couple of young rescue workers who had their pre-wedding photos taken amid a mock rescue scene have been overwhelmed by the public response.
Dong and Mind pose in pre-wedding photos with a 'patient' making an 'I love you' sign with his hand.
Thanawut "Dong" Chophukhiaw, 23, and his bride Chuennapha "Mind" Sriphaiwan, 22, work for the Ruamkatanyu Foundation in Khon San, Chaiyaphum. They met on the job four years ago, fell in love and plan to get married next month.
Photos of the couple in their rescue uniforms were posted to social media by an amateur photographer, Rawee Meethep, 33.
One shot of the pair attending to a patient on a stretcher proved popular, pulling 14,000 "shares" and drawing almost 500 comments. The rescue workers have dressed the patient's head wound but the couple get so carried away with each other they forget about him.
The young man, who for the sake of authenticity is wearing just one flip flop on his feet, makes an "I love you" sign with one hand held in the air. The bride, meanwhile, is wearing a lace headdress.
The foundation said it lent the couple use of the van for the shots. As for the young man on the stretcher, he is a co-member of the rescue team. Mr Dong and Ms Mind said he had come under playful teasing by his colleagues since the pictures were posted to photographer Rawee's "Pure Photo" FB site.
Netizens passed on their good wishes and also talked jokingly about the injured party, saying he must have grown fed up with the couple cooing over each other while he lay there waiting for attention.
"Hey, what about me," one asked jokingly on his behalf. Another added. "If I was him, I'd take off the bandages and walk to the hospital myself."
Mr Rawee said he had only recently created the page, and was taken aback by interest in the post. "I am now getting bookings though many jobs are for work in the provinces," he said.
As for the happy couple, who spoke to reporters at a wedding dress shop in Khon Kaen where Ms Mind went to pick out an outfit, they said they were excited by the attention the post has received and would like to thank the public.