Drunk, Vicious Policeman

[Upcountry]

The following story, which I read in the Nation last Friday (a week ago now), still haunts me. I was surprised that it did not appear as a thread in TV or as an article in BP. I didn't see a follow-up in the Nation either, based on web search. I guess the attack happened a month ago, but I might have missed initial coverage.

Things like this can happen anywhere, but it is unusual, maybe, because a policeman was the perp, but also the courage of the poor victim.

A Thai person I mentioned this to said that the "hostess" might have been a girlfriend/mistress of the policeman, even though the story didn't say so. That's an interesting take on it, and perhaps telling of Thai culture, regardless of class.

Have you heard any more about this? I hope the cop/perp gets the justice he deserves. I still wonder if the poor woman had a chance of getting her arm reattached, if someone had the presence of mind and good heart to pick it up and get it to the medical people who found her on the street after she crashed.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/03/23...es_30030039.php

Fri, March 23, 2007 : Last updated 20:07 pm (Thai local time)

Officer suspended over horrendous assault

A policeman based in Saraburi was yesterday suspended from duty pending an investigation into his alleged role in last month's attack on a woman whose arm was chopped off after she refused to share a table with him and two security volunteers at a local restaurant.

Pol Lance Corporal Nirut Thammasap has been charged with attempted murder and causing serious injuries, along with carrying a government-owned firearm while off duty. The alleged attack on Suphansa Wichanant took place on February 25 after he and the two other men chased her on two motorcycles when she was escaping from them.

Pol Lt General Pratchaya Sutthapreeda, chief of the Provincial Police Bureau 1, said Nirat Kongtham was the assailant who carried the knife and chopped off the victim's right arm above her elbow while riding pillion on a motorcycle driven by Prasarn Bundok. Nirut was riding another motorcycle alongside them.

The civilians have been charged with the same offences, excluding the one relating to the firearm. The three suspects have been released on bail after they turned themselves in to Ban Mor police station, to which Nirut is assigned.

Pratchaya said Nirut's superior officers at Ban Mor station and Pol Lieutenant Thanawan Marttraraj, the duty officer on the night of the crime, would also face disciplinary action for allegedly helping Nirut by distorting the facts of the investigation report to read that Suphansa lost her arm in a road accident.

The victim, a hostess at a karaoke bar in Ban Mor district, lodged a petition with acting police chief Seripisut Temiyavej on Tuesday because there had been no progress in Ban Mor police's investigation nearly one month after the attack.

In a press interview, Suphansa said she was eating alone at the restaurant before the three men, apparently drunk, approached her and verbally harassed her in a sexual way. They called her over to sit with them at their table but she refused. She scolded them after they moved to her table and continued harassing her.

The three men snatched the key to her motorcycle when she was about to leave the restaurant and demanded that she go with them to sing in one of their rooms. Suphansa said the key was returned to her after she scolded them more rudely.

She said the men then followed her on two motorcycles and Nirat chopped off her right arm with a long knife when his motorcycle caught up to hers. Despite the attack she tried to continue her escape, using her left hand to hold the accelerator, before she crashed the motorcycle, resulting in her right shin being broken in three places.

Suphansa said a number of Ban Mor police officers interviewed her the morning after the attack at a hospital where she was treated for her injuries. But the police concluded that her account was not valid because she was still in shock.

[penguin]

You obviously missed this topic and yes, it was a shocking news report.