An elderly Bangkok man who killed his son-in-law insists he did the right thing, as the victim regularly abused his daughter, the victim’s wife.
Pairote Japol
Chokchai police nabbed Pairote Japol, 67, for stabbing to death Phisanu Hemtirandon, 42, in Soi Ladplakao 10 on July 4.
Media images showed Phisanu, wearing just a pair of shorts, lying on his side outside the family home with a kitchen knife implanted firmly in his back. He staggered outdoors, apparently fleeing for his life, when he fell and died from his injuries.
Family members say he and the killer had been arguing solidly for two months before Mr Pairote, his patience exhausted, grabbed the knife and stabbed his son-in-law.
He claims he was about to assault his daughter, Phisanu’s estranged wife with whom he also argued often.
“He is a heavy drinker and drug user who has been beating her up for 10 years,” Mr Pairote told reporters at the police station where he handed himself in.
The suspect initially fled the scene, following Phisanu out of the house moments after he stabbed him, but surrendered a few hours later.
A mixed picture has emerged of life in the family home, with a teen relative of the victim’s wife, Phichaporn Yuklin, 17, backing the suspect’s claims that Phisanu was a spousal abuser.
However, the victim’s mother, Supaporn Suthat, said her son was a good man having marital problems, who cared deeply for the couple’s eight-year-old son.
“I cannot accept what happened…stabbing him in the back like that,” she told reporters.
“The old man didn’t care what was going on in his household. My son had asked me about divorcing his wife. I had agreed to talk to her parents about it on July 10 but he died first,” she said. “He wanted to leave her and take custody of the child.”
Phisanu, she said, worked hard his entire life to support his wife and family but received little help in return. “She wouldn’t even wash his clothes for him.”
She admitted her son liked a drink and that he and his wife often argued, with one altercation last year ending in him threatening her with a knife. However, she insists he did not do drugs.
“My daughter-in-law abused me verbally. Most recently, she said no one would put up with a husband like that and the next time he carries on like that, he’s dead for sure.
“His relatives could not stand to see what was going on and advised him to end the marriage but he still loved his wife,” she said.
Phisanu Hemtirandon
Jam, 60, an aunt of the victim’s, said she saw Phisanu run outside with the knife in his back. “He asked for help but died before I could call an ambulance,” she said.
Speaking at the station, Mr Pairote said he did the right thing and did not regret killing his son-in-law, as he was protecting his family. His daughter had come to see him with the couple’s young son.
His daughter told reporters she wasn’t stressed or worried about what happened. Police charged Mr Pairote with murder and opposed bail.
Lies come undone
A Nakhon Ratchasima man admits he shot his own mate as they were having a drink, despite earlier telling police a couple of teens were to blame.
Wannasit Prasongsap
Pak Chong police last week nabbed Wannasit Prasongsap, 41, for the July 4 shooting death of his drinking friend, Uthit Nawasri, 44, which he now admits was an accident but earlier tried to pass off as a teen slaying.
Mr Wannasit told police he and Uthit were drinking at a marble table opposite a shophouse in Soi Thanomsit, Pak Chong-Lam Somphung Road where he lives, when two teens turned up on a motorcycle, shot his mate once and fled.
However, when police checked CCTV cameras they could find no trace of teens entering the soi. Meanwhile, CCTV vision taken from the shophouse where he lives shows Mr Wannasit returning seconds after the shooting, carrying a red shoulder bag in which he admitted later he kept his .38.
Police stepped up their questioning and Mr Wannasit eventually admitted the story about the teens was a lie. He had returned to his place after the shooting to conceal his red shoulder bag above some shelving before returning to the scene.
While they were having their drink, he brought out the weapon to show Uthit, who asked for a look. However, Mr Wannasit, who works as a driver for a local agency, was worried the gun might go off and tried to wrest it back. The gun went off, with the bullet entering the left side of Uthit’s chest and exiting through his back. Rescue workers took him to hospital where he died from his injuries.
Prasat, 66, the victim’s father, said Mr Wannasit often asked his son out for a drink. “I do not believe the gun went off accidentally as it was too direct a hit. I think the suspect intended to do it but over what, I don’t know,” he said.
Mr Wannasit insisted he and his mate had never had problems. Police charged him with carelessness causing death and firearms offences.
Thief has run of the place
A man is appealing for help after being robbed six times in three months with police failing to catch the thief.
Nithipan Muangkram
Nithipan Muangkram, 31, of Muang Kao in Khon Kaen’s Muang district, said he had been burgled so many times he had now decided to find a place to rent rather than risk his surviving goods and possessions being stolen.
Mr Nithipan, who has lived on and off in the house a year, took reporters on a tour of the run-down place, an inherited family home which his parents had forsaken years before to move to Bangkok. He earlier left his story at an FB site, appealing to higher-ups for help after the local constabulary let him down.
His parents used to run an eatery from the house but the 1997 economic crisis forced it to close. He and his family moved to Bangkok. After graduating he took a job in Rayong, then moved back to the house in Khon Kaen to make a new start. However, the floods last year forced him to abandon that plan. He had been back in Khon Kaen just two days before the first burglary occurred.
The house, on the edge of a bridge across the River Chi, was burgled for the first time on March 17, when the culprit made off with a notebook, iPad and tablet. Mr Nithipan had just taken up a job at a cafe in Muang district, and hoped to put his earnings towards doing up the property.
He said he reported the theft to police, but they failed to make progress. Another five burglaries have occurred since, with the most recent one on June 29, when the burglar made off with a few remaining items such as a slingshot for hitting mosquitos and even a packet of instant noodles.
In earlier thefts, he broke into an outhouse and took a hoe, spade and various pieces of equipment; about 100m of electrical wire, after cutting the mains to the house; his CCTV camera system, ironically installed to catch the thief; a set of headphones, and a gas tank. The disgruntled owner showed reporters a broken window where the thief made entry, a ransacked storage box upstairs, and a looted wardrobe.
Mr Nithipan said the CCTV managed to capture images of the thief scouting the property, which he took to police. On another occasion he and a friend managed to catch the culprit and alert Muang Kao station police, just 1km from his home. However, it was 20 minutes before officers turned up. “If he had been armed anything could have happened,” he grumbled.
After questioning him, they brought the suspect back to his house where he pleaded with Mr Nithipan to drop the complaint. “I thought that was a bit much. The police didn’t call to let me know, they just brought him down here,” he said, adding he was worried about his own safety.
The break-ins persisted despite the arrest. After losing mains power to the house, and two more burglaries since, he had decided to move out. “I feel resigned to my fate and have lost faith in the cops,” he said. “They haven’t retrieved a single item, and all the burglaries occurred in broad daylight.”
Nithipan’s run-down old house.
After posting his story to the internet, critics said he should do more to protect his house. It was in a run-down state, a burglary just waiting to happen, they said. “That’s akin to blaming a student who wears sexy gear for falling victim to rape. She’s a victim, as am I,” he replied.
Going before the media, Muang district police said they had failed to update Mr Nithipan as often as they should, but denied they had been sitting idle. They had nabbed several suspects. One caught after the second burglary had been charged, and a gang which steals electrical wiring had been nabbed after one of the later break-ins. The suspect brought down to meet the homeowner after the first robbery was unlikely to be involved. They were intensifying their efforts.
