Clean-up job; no talkies; teen bear strike; won't take no
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Clean-up job; no talkies; teen bear strike; won't take no

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE
Former ice factory employee Supachai Munmuesue, 24, stabbed in the neck.
Former ice factory employee Supachai Munmuesue, 24, stabbed in the neck.

Meddling at the crime scene

A Nonthaburi ice factory owner cleaned up at the scene of a killing outside his place to help his son, the chief suspect, police say.

Muang police say Supachai Munmuesue, 24 was stabbed in the neck following an argument at the ice factory where he used to work.

The owner, Chan Khieofak, 55, helped him out the front and another local came to his aid but he died later from his injuries.

The factory also serves as living quarters for staff including the owner and his son, Sarawut Khieofak, 22, who emerged as chief suspect in the stabbing after he was spotted on CCTV fleeing the scene.

Mr Chan, who was inside his room at the time of the attack, said he heard Supachai calling for help so opened the door and saw him standing there holding his wound.

He helped Supachai out to the front of the factory and called for help, though another local turned up as well. CCTV viewed by police shows Mr Chan's son walking past them during the drama as if nothing had happened.

While waiting for rescue workers, Mr Chan went to work cleaning up evidence which could implicate his son, according to police, unquoted in news reports.

He cleaned blood from the ground in front of his room. He also changed his shirt, which was covered in the victim's blood, and tossed it in a washing tub along with the victim's phone, ensuring it sustained water damage.

Asked brusquely by police why he took these steps, he said he cleaned the blood because he didn't want police messing around in his room. He had put the victim's phone in his pocket while helping him out the front, and "forgot" it was there when he tossed his bloody shirt in the wash.

Police later took the father in for questioning, when he admitted his son was the one seen fleeing the scene. Supachai and his son were normally close, and he did not know what happened that night, he said.

Sarawut later made contact with his father, who arranged to bring him in to police. No word was to hand on the charges he will face.

Unexpected bonus

Nonthaburi police stumbled on an arms cache when they went to a home to search for drugs.

Kiartsak Dechpornsakda and his father Krissana after their arrest.

Rattanathibet police nabbed Kiartsak Dechpornsakda, 21, after a druggie they busted earlier identified the young man as his supplier.

They had arrested Somsak Klongklaew, 31, in soi Samakkhi 31 with 70 ya ba tablets and 0.78 grammes of ya ice. He said he bought the drugs from Mr Kiartsak in soi Premruethai 24.

When police arrived they found Mr Kiartsak there with his father, Krissana, 41.

A search for drugs turned up 706 speed tablets, and 8.5 grammes of ice. While there they also looked in Mr Krissana's bedroom, where they found six unregistered handguns and 237 bullets.

Mr Krissana says he has been collecting the weapons for years but none have ever been fired. Some were birthday presents from friends, he said.

However, none were registered.

Mr Kiartsak said the drugs were his alone, and nothing to do with his father.

He was out of work but had expenses to meet such as upkeep for two children and repayments on his pickup, so turned to selling drugs.

He made an initial investment of 10,000 baht and had been selling drugs for a month when he was caught.

Mr Krissana said he knew nothing about his son's activities because they live separately in the same house and rarely talk. "If I had known I would have warned my son off them," he said.

Police charged Mr Krissana with having unlicensed firearms, and his son with selling class 1 drugs.

Teen death puzzles Mum

A Chachoengsao youngster who dressed up in a bear suit to sell yoghurt drinks met a sad end when his girlfriend hit him with a baseball bat.

Chonlada talks to police

Muang police nabbed Chonlada, 23, for killing Natthaphat Thongsuk, 19, with the bat. She was waiting for them when they arrived.

The lad's mother, Narimol, 42, said her son was living in town with a bunch of young women and tomboys.

According to Chonlada's testimony to police, she and Natthaphat argued on Sept 28 when she hit him several times with the bat. They then went their separate ways.

When she called the next day to invite him for a meal, she received no response. Some time later she and her friends gained access to his place when they found him dead.

Ms Narimol said her son was staying with friends while he worked as a salesman, trying to save money to finish his schooling. He had left school before the end of Matthayom 3.

"He dressed in a bear suit and sold drinks at a local intersection and in villages, earning 300 baht a day," she said.

Chonlada, the young woman accused of attacking Natthaphat, sold goods with him. It is unclear what prompted the argument, but his mother doubts police have been told the whole story.

Natthaphat's autopsy showed he was killed brutally. His head was hit with a hard object, his lungs were infected, jawbone broken, bridge of his nose and an arm broken, and his body covered in bruising. "I don't believe the suspect's claim that she hit him with just a baseball bat," Ms Narimol said.

While she did not know much about her son's living circumstances since he left home, she said her son called her furtively on a friend's phone about 10 days before he died. He told his mother he wanted to come home.

"He said he was too tired to carry on. I told him to come back in that case, but he said his friends didn't want him to leave and were watching him. The line went dead and he didn't call again," she said.

Her son also told her that if he did return he was worried it would cause problems for the family, meaning the gang he was with could seek reprisals. The people he was with were locals of influence, he said.

Ms Narimol, who said her son wanted to be a soldier after he finished his schooling, has asked police to expand their probe.

A persistent car dealer

Kalasin police are looking for a car dealer who harassed a customer, crossing into another province in pursuit of her affections and firing twice into her room when she spurned his advances.

'B' shows the bullet holes left in the motel wall after a second-hand car dealer turned up at the place and shot through the door.

B, 33, says she bought a Mitsubishi Mirage with 128,000 baht on Sept 15 from the second-hand dealer in Nakhon Phanom, who took a fancy to her and started asking her out.

B, who thought the transaction ended when he paid for the vehicle and he transferred the registration papers, was not interested in his advances.

On the night of the attack, late last month, she booked a motel room in Na Mon district of Kalasin, The dealer, whose voice she recognised, turned up at her front door at 4am and started beating on it. B, who was staying alone, did not open the door but asked what they wanted. "You're being rude, bashing the door like that," she said.

"You blocked me on Line," the visitor said simply. She denied it, insisting she had merely started a new Line account. B heard their vehicle leaving and went back to sleep.

However, at 7am they came back and once again beat on the front door, waking her. The car dealer said through the closed door that he was about to shoot her. He had just wanted to ask her out. "I have no problem with you," she insisted, feeling alarmed.

She repeated her claim that they were rude, and the visitors then shot their gun twice into the door. The bullets passed through the door and lodged into the wall.

"I was still lying in bed. If I had still been sitting up at the time, I would have been shot dead," B said.

B called police and alerted the motel. The gunman, who had turned up with two friends in a pickup, later retraced his steps to pick up the bullet shells. He saw the police but evaded their scrutiny.

The dealer later called to threaten B, saying that on the trip back to Nakhon Phanom, no police had tried to stop him, which showed he was invincible. Officers were looking for the gunman and his mates.

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