SONGKHLA: An unhappy man whose estranged wife wants a divorce made preparations to hang himself and his 3-year-old daughter at his home in Hat Yai on Tuesday, and in a live Facebook broadcast set a deadline for the woman to return home.
Police and rescue workers rushed to the house on Soi Plakwa in the municipal area after being alerted to the live broadcast around 7.30pm, said Pol Maj Hakim Mhad-adam, investigation chief at Hat Yai police station.
They broke into the house and were in time to prevent him carrying out his threat. Police immediately separated the girl from her father. The child's mother, who had separated from the father, later arrived at the police station to take care of her.
The man involved, identified as a 32-year-old former soldier, rode his own motorcycle to Hat Yai police station and waited there, saying he wanted to take his daughter back home.
He had earlier attached a rope to the railing at the top of the stairs inside the house and made two loops, one at each dangling end.
He then lit joss sticks, apologising for what he was doing, and burned photos of his wife before placing his daughter on his lap at the top of the stairs. He then threatened to hang his daughter and himself if his wife did not show up by 8pm.
He broadcast his preparations and threat live on Facebook.
The girl was crying all the time during the broadcast. A friend of his wife saw it and immediately phoned the man’s younger sister, saying she should contact the wife and police.
Relatives told police that the couple had separated several months ago and she recently asked for a divorce. His family problems and debts had put him under great stress, relatives said. They filed a police record against him over the incident.
Police placed the girl under the care of her relatives.
Names have been withheld to protect the child.