Contract hit fails; ungrateful son; naughty fire-starter
text size

Contract hit fails; ungrateful son; naughty fire-starter

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE
Listen to this article
Play
Pause
A policeman and victim on the road.
A policeman and victim on the road.

Comically bad killers

A gang nabbed for a supposed contract kill which went comically wrong say the motive, which police have yet to pin down, was actually robbery.

Metropolitan Police, along with their counterparts from Thung Khru station in Bangkok, last week nabbed three men and a woman for the attack.

The woman acted as a decoy luring Sutthikiat "Eang" Rojanakongyu, 33, who allegedly ratted on the gang to police, to a meeting place in Thung Khru district.

Her three male companions, who sprang an ambush on the victim, intended to kill him, after their gang leader, according to some reports, complained he was robbed of 100,000 baht and decided to seek revenge.

Mr Sutthikiat arranged a rendezvous with the woman, Suphattra Sripharama, 26, who befriended him on Facebook several days before and sent him the location.

He liked the look of her and the two agreed to meet with Mr Sutthikiat taking along his mate Mr Pongsakorn for the ride.

The Jan 26 attack took place on Soi Charoensuk along Kanchanaphisek Road (the Bangkok Outer Ring Road). The three male suspects, who admitted the attack, were identified as Noppadol "Jui" Chaisri, his brother Noppakun "Aof" Chaisri, and Sattaya "Kan" Sonnklin.

When Mr Sutthikiat and his mate arrived on their motorbike they found Ms Suphattra waiting. She asked which one she had been talking to on FB, and Mr Sutthikiat put up his hand.

"As soon as I identified myself, shots started ringing out, and her three companions sprang out from hiding in the bushes," Mr Sutthikiat, who escaped injury, told police.

The attack didn't go as planned, as the men shot Mr Pongsakorn by mistake, even after Mr Sutthikiat, the intended target, had identified himself.

Some news reports suggested Mr Sutthikiat was linked to the robbery of the 100,000 baht from the gang's leader, "A".

Others, however, suggested Mr Sutthikiat had given evidence to police about A's drug activities, and he decided to silence him by ordering a hit. The gang was to be paid 10,000 baht for the job upon completion and a 100 baht daily food allowance.

The three men, members of A's gang, are said to have recruited the woman to befriend the target on social media and lure him to a dark spot for the kill.

Regardless, Mr Sutthikiat was able to flee into the back of a nearby banana grove when the shots rang out.

His friend Pongsakorn was shot in the thigh and fell to the ground. The gang set about beating him with a baseball bat and knuckle dusters, before Mr Pongsakorn exclaimed: "I've been shot! I can't take it any more," prompting them to stop hitting and switch to kicking him instead.

A discarded knife and knuckle duster were among weapons recovered at the scene.

When a bystander intervened during the attack, the attackers fled on a couple of motorcycles, and the victims contacted police.

In her rush to flee, decoy Ms Suphattra left her purse behind including her ID card.

Police found a blue Honda Wave motorcycle used in the crime was registered to a man named Beer.

He said the four suspects turned up at his place at 2am on the day of the crime and asked to borrow his motorcycle, promising to return it in an hour.

Police tracked down the four suspects, searching their homes.

Ms Suphattra, who turned herself in to police the day after the attack, tried to divert the narrative, police say, claiming Mr Sattaya (Kan) was her ex-boyfriend and had become jealous when he found out she was talking to another man on FB.

Police, however, discarded the jealous lover motive, as too much evidence pointed elsewhere. They also sought arrest warrants for the three men, eventually catching up with them.

As the suspects were escorted for a crime reconstruction on Wednesday, a Channel 7 reporter asked Kan about the contract kill theory.

He denied the gang was paid for a contract hit, saying his boss A had asked them to attack Mr Sutthikiat because A was robbed of 100,000 baht. No further details of the supposed robbery were given.

Pol Col Jumphon Sinsiripong, superintendent of Thung Khru police, said police had filed five charges, including conspiracy to commit bodily harm, conspiracy to commit murder, and firearms charges. The case continues.

Tale of woe exposed

A Bangkok youngster's claims on social media that his mother had abandoned him, forcing him to live a life of hardship with grandparents, has come undone after a cousin and then his own mother rejected the claims.

B, left; and B's mother with her new family.

B, left; and B's mother with her new family.

The tear-jerker video post on TikTok left by "B", 20, attracted more than 20 million views, news reports said.

B said his mother had abandoned him to start a new family overseas. He had put himself through school and struggled to make ends meet. His video was accompanied by images of his living in hardship with grandparents, who took him in when his mother left.

"I have grown up with my grandparents since I was a child, working to support myself through school. My mother has a new family with a foreign man abroad," he said, adding: "In this life, my mother chose him. In the next life, my mother will choose me. I don't want anything from my mother, I just want her to think of me."

Netizens expressed sympathy for the young man, and many criticised his mother.

Writing on Facebook, a fed-up cousin, however, said he was upset to see the post, and doesn't know what motivated B to make such claims.

"The woman in the picture is my aunt. The truth is that this boy is addicted to gambling and playing slot machines. He doesn't work and asks his mother and relatives for money.

"When he couldn't get money from his mother, he fabricated this story to slander her. She has been supporting him all along.

"She sends him money for school, but he refuses to study. He found a job at a chicken rice shop with his brother in Ubon Ratchathani, but would not wake up in time for work.

"He ended up living with his grandmother, not helping out, while his grandparents were working in the fields. He just lies around playing on his phone and gambling," he said.

B's mother, identified as "Fon", also spoke out. She told Khao Sod newspaper that she and her Australian husband had recently returned to Thailand and wanted B to live with them.

She had tried to get her son to live with her in Australia, but could not overcome bureaucratic red tape.

She also sent him money regularly, though not the 2,000-3,000 baht he wanted every week, as she knows he has a gambling problem. She has pleaded with him to quit the habit, but he refuses.

B

B

She had also sent him to a private school in Chiang Rai, but he refused to study, and seemed to lack interest in the rice chicken shop job paying 600 baht a day. When he failed to turn up his boss grew so fed up he called her.

"My son blocked relatives who call, and I have been trying to call him to find out what happened," she said, referring to the TikTok sympathy post.

"I also want to tell society that no mother does not love her own child," Ms Fon said. No response was available from the young man.

Choking on uncle's miseeds

A Bangkok man who moved North to escape polluted air shamed an older man in his neighbourhood who burns corn stubble year-round regardless of locals' complaints.

An old man quickly grabs a bunch of banana leaves to extinguish the fire.

An old man quickly grabs a bunch of banana leaves to extinguish the fire.

Siwat (no surname given), who now lives in Chiang Rai, said he had reached his limit with the old man, who lives in the area but was unidentified in news reports.

Siwat said the old man, referred to as referred to as "uncle" in news reports, burns corn stalks around his Mae Sai district housing development all year, making it hard to breathe and leaving ashes scattered about his house.

He had moved away from the capital to breathe fresh air, only to be met with the constant smoke nuisance, he complained on social media.

After talking to the old man, who carried on regardless, he decided to film him lighting fires.

The old man, who was presumably aware of the PM2.5 nuisance (the government has since put in place a ban on open-air burning), quickly grabbed a bunch of banana leaves to extinguish the fire.

Siwat said he had bought land in the area six years ago and was living there with his partner.

The old man planted corn in vacant areas around the housing development in San Sai Pu Yi, burning it throughout the year, which annoyed homeowners. However, no one wanted to confront him.

Siwat said flames from the old man's fires come dangerously close to his property, and ashes float into his home.

Unsure of how to deal with the fire menace, he decided to post the video of the old man's antics to social media, which led to many comments criticising the old man.

Reports were unclear as to whether he is still at it.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (1)