Footballer falls from grace
A Buri Ram woman has laid a police complaint about her boyfriend, a football star from Surin whom she says defrauded the family and failed to turn up for her wedding.
Fah, 20, from Lahan Sai district, accompanied by her mother, complained to police about her boyfriend, identified as M in news reports. He is a player in a well-known Surin football club.
M, whom she met about a year ago, tricked the family out of money to make merit after his mother and younger sister supposedly died from Covid.
Fah's mother, Po, 56, said she transferred 16,000 baht for the funeral. A told her he would pay the family back when the life insurance payments came through, but the money has yet to arrive.
M also sent them pictures of the funeral, which the family now suspects he copied from the internet. He has since told Fah that in fact he has no family.
Worse, the family is now left with a 300,000 baht bill for a Feb 26 wedding he did not attend.
In January, when the pair agreed to marry, M asked Fah's mother to consult monks about an auspicious date for the event. He also presented to the family a necklace which he said was worth three baht in gold as a down payment.
"He said he would provide a dowry of 800,000 baht and gold worth six baht, and said many famous footballers would come as guests," Po told the media after laying the complaint.
"I believed him, obtained a date of Feb 26 and started preparations for the wedding. We booked the venue and bought food and drinks, and wedding gifts of Thai silk for his relatives. As for the catering, we booked a Chinese-style banquet meal for 40 tables. The total cost was 300,000 baht," she said.
Just before the wedding, M called to say his sister-in-law had taken off with the gold and the money he intended to give as a dowry. He also failed to show on the big day and the family has not seen him since.
"I am sure he is lying about the theft of the dowry as we had earlier taken the necklace to a gold shop, where to our surprise staff told us the necklace he gave us was fake," she said.
When Fah confronted him, M claimed his elder brother had taken the "real" gold and pawned it, but said he would redeem it before the big day.
After news emerged that the family had now gone to the police, M sent Fah a message saying he would pay back the damages, but would not say when. He also spun a sob story about his origins.
"He claimed he had no parents, and said another family took him in when he was young and that's all he had in life," Fah said.
"I told him I didn't care about his background. I ask only that he would love me honestly; but can't accept that he cheated my family and caused us so much stress and bother.
"I can't go back to the way we were, but if he feels repentant, he should come back and take responsibility," she said.
On Feb 28, when reporters caught up with them again, Fah and her mother were returning her wedding gown which they hired for 2,500 baht back to the wedding shop.
Po, in tears, said she felt sorry for her daughter, as she had to suffer the embarrassment of being stood up. "I had seen this sort of thing in the news but never thought it would happen to our own family," she said.
News reports from Surin say M has moved his belongings out of the rental place where he was staying and fled. He was behind two months on the rent.
One report says police told the family that M's actions fall into the category of breach of contract rather than fraud. They asked the family to leave a record of what happened as evidence, and hire a lawyer to pursue a civil claim.
Drug fiend shows no mercy
An ex-Thai boxer has gone to police after his drug-addicted son beat him up.
Ratanapol "Sor" Vorapin, also known as Rambo, or Preecha, 50, asked Chana Songkhram police for help in getting his son admitted to rehab. He has been to rehab two or three times previously, but keeps relapsing.
Preecha said his son had beaten him up repeatedly. Despite the fact Preecha is a former pro boxer, he is no match for the younger man's size or strength.
His son, unnamed in news reports, weighs at least 100kg, according to his Dad, who is just half his son's weight.
Speaking from his home in Samsen soi 6, Preecha showed reporters his extensive facial bruising. The young man beat his father, and dragged him along the ground.
Preecha said the beating resulted from a misunderstanding. "He found out I had been to the police and assumed I was trying to get him arrested," he said.
"I have told the police I do not want to take action against him. In fact, I feel sorry for my son, forgive him, and want him to go back into treatment," he added.
"I suspect it is karma, as I used to speak brusquely to my own father when I was young, which made him unhappy," Preecha said in a shaky voice.
Pol Lt Col Sarayut Boontham, deputy head of investigations at the station, said Preecha, who sells noodles on Khao San Road, came to see officers two or three days before.
"He wanted his son to go back into rehab. As we were helping arrange it, his son caught wind of the fact Preecha had come to see us and assumed his Dad wanted to have him arrested. They started to argue at home, and the victim was assaulted.
"Preecha has left a record of what happened as evidence, and we won't charge the son with assault if that's Preecha's choice.
"Next, we have to talk to the son to make sure he wants to go to rehab voluntarily.
"If we arrest him for assault and sent him for treatment as part of the proceedings, it could inflame matters at home further. However, if Preecha changes his mind, we are happy to take action for the assault," he said.
Fill 'er up -- the drink bottle, too
Buri Ram police are looking for an enterprising diesel thief who switched plates with his own before filling his tank without paying.
The thief stole a licence plate from a local singer's car, and put it on what was likely his own vehicle. Later he went to a petrol station in another district and filled it up with diesel before fleeing.
Singer Thapakorn Singram, 31, posted a message on social media to warn that his plate had been stolen from his black Isuzu D-MAX as it was parked next to the pub in Nang Rong district where he works.
At the suggestion of his boss, he also alerted police, as he suspected the stolen plate could be used to help commit a crime.
Later, staff from a PT station in Nong Ki alerted Thapakorn to say they had seen the post and that a vehicle with the stolen plate had paid them a visit.
The driver of a pickup turned up and asked staff to fill his tank at 12.30am on Feb 22.
Somsuan Mongkratok, 21, the attendant who served him, said the driver also asked him to fill two one-gallon tanks at the back of his van. "He even asked me to fill up a soft drink bottle with diesel too, but I had to tell him that was against the rules," he said.
While he was adding up the bill, which came to an impressive 4,250 baht, the driver fled without paying.
Staff are almost certain it is the same plate, though the station has no CCTV.
Police from Nang Rong have contacted their counterparts in Nong Ki to pool CCTV vision from both areas to see if they can find any vehicles in common as they pursue the thief.
