Ex-wife rallies behind suspect
The former wife of a man who allegedly killed her new lover has swung to his defence, saying he showed concern for the victim even as he was dying of his stab wounds.
Ae (no surname given), 32, said she was present when her ex-husband, Athipong Chanthornseriwittaya, 30, started fighting with her new boyfriend, who died in the May 7 encounter.
Lak Song police say the victim, Wattanyuu Rangsuk, 25, was stabbed five times outside the two-storey townhouse which Mr Athipong bought with Ms Ae at the Pruksa Ville 85 Thawi Watthana housing village in Bang Kae.
She said she left Mr Athipong, also her former business partner with whom she also has a six-year-old son, two years ago, and took up with Wattanyuu. Mr Athipong knew about the relationship and while the two had argued over the phone once, they had not come to blows previously.
Ms Ae and Mr Athipong ran a business together making black plastic rubbish bags, though he withdrew his shares when their relationship broke up.
She said on the day of the killing Mr Athipong had turned up at her place to talk about business, and when he saw Wattanyuu there, asked her to send him away.
She refused, as he had arrived from Nakhon Sawan only that morning. Unable to reach her the night before, Wattanyuu, concerned for her welfare, had driven from his home province to see her.
Later that evening, Mr Athipong, who left after failing to talk to his ex-wife that morning, sent a text message saying he was coming around to pick up their son, as he didn't want the boy there with Wattanyuu. The child lives with Mr Athipong though Ms Ae looks after the boy one day a week.
Mr Athipong turned up and revved his engine as if to show his displeasure. Wattanyuu went outside and asked "What the hell do you want?" which apparently started the fight.
Ms Ae said Mr Athipong grabbed a knife from inside the vehicle, which he uses for deliveries, and stabbed her boyfriend in the neck.
"At first I saw the two men struggling and didn't see the knife, but then I saw Wattanyuu fall to the ground," she said. Mr Athipong, she said, hurriedly took off his shirt to help stanch the flow of blood, saying "I should never have come out."
When the first ambulance arrived, he moved his vehicle to clear a path, but then took off. He handed himself in to police a few hours later and has been charged with intentional killing.
Ms Ae said she is sure her ex-husband didn't mean to do it, as he stayed behind to help stop the bleeding.
An unlikely tale
Locals are breaking ranks to dispute a Suphan Buri couple's claim that their son was killed by an intruder who stabbed him multiple times in the kitchen even as the parents slept.
Thung Klee police found Nanich Tumpee, 44, with 20 stab wounds to his body including a slit throat on May 10. He was killed in the family home in Doem Bang Nang Buat district, supposedly while his parents slept just metres away.
Wang Raman, 70, his foster father, had bad blood with the victim, but pleaded innocence. He said his wife, Pojanee Raksuk, 64, also the victim's mother, woke him the next morning to say he was dead.
"I don't know who the killer was, as I went to bed drunk. We had argued in the past but nothing too serious...just a duel with a knife," he told police. "I stabbed Nanich and the assistant village headman took him to hospital," he added.
Neighbours say fights at the household were common, especially when the occupants had been drinking.
Ms Pojanee said she woke to find her son in the kitchen and initially thought he was sleeping. When she went to fetch him a blanket, she saw the pool of blood on the floor and woke her husband.
They deny any fighting took place on the night of his death. The knife fight a month before left Nanich with wounds needing 30 stitches.
The assistant village headman who took the victim to hospital after his fight, Sompong Klaimala, said he also dropped in on the morning after the murder. He said Mr Wang came out looking drunk and said brusquely, "Nich's dead".
"When I asked what happened, he replied that he had simply died, but then added he had been found with a slit throat," Mr Sompong told reporters. "He motioned me inside for a look. When I found the body I called the police."
Mr Sompong said he did not believe the couple's claims that the victim died by his own hand, or that an intruder was responsible.
Retracing his steps the day before, Mr Wang said the village head had brought around his wife's pension of 600 baht, so he invited son to buy some food in the village. His son asked to borrow 100 baht to buy alcohol. Nanich later that night invited him for a drink, but he declined and went to bed at 6pm.
Ms Pojanee said her son, who came home drunk, also asked to talk to her, but said he wanted to do it in private as he was afraid his foster father would hear.
"When I refused, he said: 'If I die, please look after my body'," she told reporters. She didn't think anything of it as she thought he was joking.
News reports say Ms Pojanee's suggestion he may have taken his own life sounds unlikely, as he was found with so many stab wounds.
Police found a large knife at the home, a single-storey house in a rubber plantation.
When officers started questioning Mr Wang rigorously, he clammed up and started praying to the spirits, asking them to look after matters.
As for Ms Pojanee, when police asked her if her husband and her son had ever argued, she denied it. This clashed with Mr Wang's evidence and accounts by neighbours who heard the argument.
Ms Pojanee's own cousin, Chamroen Yaempoo, 64, who lives about 200m away, said arguments in the household are common.
"I heard another row on the night of the murder. The village head took around her pension but instead of putting it towards food they bought booze.
"It's always like that. I don't believe the parents when they say they had nothing to do with it. I tried to persuade them to speak the truth, without success. Relatives and I lit incense sticks asking Nanich's spirit to inspire the mother to tell the police what really happened," she said.
Pol Lt Col Sophet Chanpalagnam, inspector of investigations, said the couple sleep in a room adjoining the kitchen but claimed they didn't hear a thing. Police have collected DNA evidence to find the killer.
A thieving non-thief
A man who claims he was falsely accused of being a book thief many years ago ironically set out to prove his critics correct, embarking on a two-year book thieving spree to get back at them.
Region 5 police last week nabbed Khanti Champeng, 58, in Chiang Mai after he stole books from four branches of the B2S bookstore chain. While police caught him in Chiang Mai, he was in fact wanted on at least eight warrants for theft issued by courts in the Central and Eastern provinces over the past two years.
Police also seized his Toyota Revo pickup truck and a collection of 109 stolen books, some of which had been packed awaiting shipment to Bangkok.
Mr Khanti, originally from Phetchabun, told police that someone from the chain wrongly accused him of book theft 10 years ago, and the claims stung. He decided to get back at the chain by stealing their books, mainly Chinese fantasies, but also tuition books and books on talismans and amulets.
He only stole from this chain and would go from branch to branch. He would enter a store, pretend to look at their merchandise, and stuff three or four books down his front.
The thief said that when he started making a habit of it, he decided to sell the stolen books to second-hand dealers, earning enough "capital" to move on to his next destination.
After getting a complaint in Chiang Mai about his eccentric thieving behaviour, police found he also had warrants outstanding in Bangkok, Chachoengsao, Prachin Buri, Prachuab Khiri Khan, and Chon Buri. Region 5 police traced his travels in the truck and nabbed him in Muang district on May 10.
Police are sceptical of his claims that he did it purely out of vengeance, as they believe he was stealing to order and have widened their probe.
Mr Khanti appears to have done well from the trade. He admitted stealing many Chinese action fantasies, upon which popular TV series are based. He also found a ready market for education textbooks, although these fell out of fashion as learning moved online. Later, he diversified into books on talismans, amulets and the like, which are also popular with readers. He could resell a 3,000 baht book on talismans stolen in Chachoengsao, for example, for 500 baht.
Pol Col Phitoon Pattanachai, head of Muang police in Chachoengsao, one of the spots where he was wanted on theft charges, said police believe he has stolen books in many cases which have yet to come to light.
"He told us he has done so much of it he can't remember all the details," he said. Officers had also turned up a case where he skipped bail on book theft charges in Sam Sen of Bangkok, and one in Maha Sarakham where police have yet to seek a warrant. He was charged, predictably enough, with theft.
