Young life snuffed out
A Nakhon Si Thammarat teenager's bid to avenge his girlfriend's trampled honour led to his untimely death on Children's Day.
Hua Sai police last week arrested a teenager for the Jan 11 fatal stabbing of Nong Itt, or Pupadin (no surname given), 14, which took place on the Nakhon Si Thammarat-Songkhla bypass road in front of a restaurant.
The victim was riding a motorcycle with his girlfriend when they arrived at the eatery. Two youngsters, aged 29 and 14 (no names given), the teenager previously a close friend of the victim's, followed them on a saleng and called on him to stop.
They confronted Itt and stabbed him in the left side of the chest with a sharp object before fleeing. Itt was taken to hospital but died later from his injuries.
The stabbing followed a confrontation between Itt and the 14 year-old suspect earlier in the day.
The suspect came across Itt and his girlfriend at a Children's Day event held by the municipality. The suspect brazenly asked if he could touch his girlfriend's breasts, which upset the couple. It also stunned TV news presenters covering the tragedy, with one asking incredulously, "Is this what things have come to, teens walking up and asking if they can grope each other?"
Itt later enlisted the help of an older friend to track down the 14 year-old suspect to confront him about his request.
Itt kicked the suspect once and the suspect fled. That was the extent of their confrontation, Itt's mother says, but the suspect, his pride wounded, later asked the 29 year-old to accompany him on his motorbike as they tracked down Itt for a reprisal beating.
They found Itt and his friend outside the eatery that night when the fatal stabbing ensued. The 14 year-old suspect handed himself in to police the next day.
He admitted stabbing Itt following their misunderstanding. Police were proceeding with legal action against him as a minor, news reports said, and tracking down his 29-year-old accomplice.
Earlier that evening, Itt was having a meal with his family when he asked his mother if could go out again. Fatefully, perhaps, she agreed, and a few hours later her son was dead.
His grieving mother said she spoke to Itt's friends at Wat Khok Phikun temple where his relatives gathered for the lad's funeral about the events of that day. Her son and his girlfriend, she said, were waiting near the eatery for another friend when the suspects approached and attacked him.
The mother said her son was no troublemaker, but rather a typical teenager who had never been involved in serious fights. "He was still a child. I don't know how they could do such a thing," she said in tears.
She had struggled to come to terms with what happened, as she thinks that allowing her son to attend the Children's Day event was akin to permitting him to go to his death.
The family of the perpetrator had not come forward to apologise, even though she knew the boy's grandmother. The police probe continues.
Jealous wife seeks revenge
The jealous wife of a Nakhon Sawan man tracked down his vehicle via GPS and shot him to death in front of his startled parents.
Krok Phra police nabbed Jitra (no surname given), 49, for slaying her husband Sarawut (no surname given), 44, with a .38 calibre revolver.

Sarawut

Jitra
News reports say she travelled from Chon Buri where she works, tracking her husband via GPS. The pair had argued previously over his relationship with a woman he met in Bangkok.
Sarawut had asked his wife of 10 years over New Year if they could break up, but she refused. He was working in Bangkok and it is unclear how often he and his Jitra met. In any event, Sarawut had met someone else and had moved in with her, the reports say.
Jitra, who claims she found out about her husband's infidelity thanks to the GPS tracker she quietly installed on his car, confronted him about the relationship and they argued.
Later, he took leave from work and drove to his parents' place in Nakhon Sawan. She followed him without his knowledge, and turned up asking to clear the air.
Sarawut's mother said she was suspicious about her motives and searched her daughter-in-law for weapons, but omitted to search the front of her pants.
Sarawut's father was sitting between them at the table as the two tried to settle matters. However, Jitra decided she'd had enough, pulled out her concealed weapon and shot her husband twice in the ribs and the back of his head, killing him.
She then tried turning the weapon on herself, but the victim's father swatted the gun from her hand. They called the police, who arrested her.
Reporters pursuing the story later found relatives visiting Jitra at the station.
Asked about the shooting, Jitra's relatives, who sounded remarkably unsympathetic about the victim's plight, suggested they ask Sarawut's family what he had done to provoke such anger.
Pol Lt Col Thakrit Yodsutthi, a deputy investigator, said police charged the suspect with premeditated murder and firearms offences.
The firearm used in the incident was registered and borrowed from a friend, who police would track down for questioning, he said.
That old dog faeces trick
Police in Bangkok faced down six aggressive pit bulls as they searched the house of a known drug dealer who had gone back to his old trade after his most recent spell in jail.

Two of Natthapol's six dogs.
Hua Mak police confronted the barking dogs and navigated piles of dog waste to arrest Natthapol, or "Bees", (no surname given), 26, at his house in Bang Kapi.
Upon arrival, officers found a single-storey wooden house surrounded by a fence. Inside, they encountered two aggressive male pit bulls, along with several other dogs which were not pleased to see them.
The team called for the homeowner to open the door, secure the dogs and let them conduct the search pursuant to their court warrant obtained earlier.
As they entered, several officers stepped in dog waste scattered through the house, with the smell permeating the area and dogs barking loudly, reports said.
Natthapol took the officers to his methamphetamine stash, divided into bags containing 2,000 pills each, hidden under the floor at three spots in the house, or 6,000 pills in total.
They also found 50 zip bags, one dog food bag, and 2,060 baht in cash earned from drug sales, along with one mobile phone.
Under questioning, Natthapol, who has a lengthy history of offending, said he was first nabbed for drug dealing when he was 14, and had served two prison sentences since: the first for 18 months, the second nine months.

Natthapol outside his house.
After his release, he returned to dealing, sourcing methamphetamine from a person named "Ees" at a mosque in Wang Yai for 20,000 baht per batch, and selling it to customers in the community for 50 baht per pill.
He had made such sales 5-]–6 times, using contacts to place the drugs at various spots for customers to pick up.
Regarding the pit bulls, three males and three females, all aged six, Natthapol claimed he raised them for sale at 5,000 baht each. However, police were sceptical, as neighbours reported he kept the dogs for personal use, not for sale.
Police suspect he really used them to guard the house and to mask the smell of the methamphetamine with their faeces. He was charged with drug offences.