Udon police arrest Swiss expat who killed armed intruder at his home

[Edwin Cameron]

Good onya mate..! one for the good guy's, this man deserves a medal for defending himself,turns out he was better at 'Muay Thai' let that be a lesson to all that think 'Farangs' are fair game.!

[bangkok19]

17 hours ago, Hamus Yaigh said:

There is nothing clear here. The wife said so "he tried to initiate a relationship with her but she declined his advances. She would meet him in the village and say hello, that was all."

There is one thing VERY CLEAR!

If the Swiss guy wanted to KILL the intruder, he would've used the gun.

Instead he used (what we call) "reasonable force" to render him a non-threat.

The intruder may have suffered a heart attack in all the excitement.....

Sadly, some of this Swiss guys hard earned Retirement Savings will now have to be directed to the intruder's family to prevent a (wrongful) conviction.

[Sig]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

A struggle ensued as the Swiss man said he grabbed the intruder's arm and the gun went off but it didn't hit anyone.

 

Rudolf said he threw it in the pond next to the house.

 

In the furious fight fists and feet were used to attack the intruder who was knocked unconscious.

 

Worried that he would regain consciousness the foreigner tied him up, woke up his wife and got her to contact the phu yai ban to inform the police.

 

However, when the phu yai ban arrived Sathian was already dead.

With a life-threatening battle going on in the house and a gun being fired... he had to go wake up his wife after tying the guy up????? Did they whisper at each other as they fought? And the gun have an amazing silencer on it? She must be one hell of a sound sleeper! ????
And he threw the gun in the pond? huh?? Seriously, why on earth would anybody do that?
The guy "scaled" a concrete wall? A "wall" in the pics looks like it's not even a meter high! It could just be a language/vocabulary problem... but it doesn't seem like this guy penetrated some kind of well fortified/secured compound or anything, if he indeed came in without being invited by the guy enjoying a cup of COFFEE in the middle of the night. Every older person I know avoids coffee later in the day, let alone in the middle of the night. Would be interesting to see if there was a fresh cup of unfinished coffee on the scene or maybe there were two cups? Everything just sounds weird. It is so far from cut and dry as so many people would like to think. In the end it could turn out to be that way, but please don't be so simple-minded as to think that things are so obvious as they first appear when crimes occur. Some comments here are positively thoughtless.
That story has a LOT of questions to be answered beyond just this. It could be interesting to see this pensioner's wife's phone logs too. If she rebuffed this intruder's romantic advances as she says, then certainly she would never have given him her number, after all, they only ever said hello in passing in the village....
Who knows.... But hopefully there wasn't any kind of deceitful conduct like that and it's just a simple case of one unbelievably stupid fool who thought he could rob his own neighbor without getting caught. But unless that guy was on drugs, who on earth would think they could get away with that!? Soooooo many questions.....

[Darksidedude]

17 hours ago, seajae said:

when you are attacked in your own home with a gun weilding robber you are entitled to defend yourself, in any other country it would be recognised as self defence, if a thai had done it, it would also be looked at as self defence but because a farang that was 10 years older than the robber did it he is being charged, really shows the anti farang views/laws they have here. 

i agree however there are a few cases where this has happened in western country's and the victim has been jailed, i mean what to do are you supposed to just let them do what they want i dont think so

[Sig]

7 hours ago, Gandtee said:

Lots of theories. What about; the intruder liked to pop over the wall for a bit of nooky with the missus. Hubby was waiting for him with a gun. Knocked him out and fired a shot to look like the intruder had used the gun. Then tied him up and did him over for cuckolding him. And it went to far. Elementary my dear Watson. And as good and as useless as all the other theories. Will we see a follow up report? We shall see.????

Yep, endless theories, including people just taking the pensioner's word at face value. But without access to the scene or any real evidence it is unreal how people respond to news stories. And the theory you mentioned could be checked pretty easily if the police do a decent investigation and test both men's hands for residue indicating who had fired the pistol. And if they both tested positive as is possible with a struggle over the gun when it fired, then depending on the guy's story and details around when and how the gun was shot, that may line up, but still could be that the struggle was by the Thai struggling to not be shot by the hubby... who knows.... That's why news stories are useless in determining facts. A decent detailed interrogation and good physical evidence collection goes a long way to see what may be true and what may not be.

[dogfish180]

Gun went off......then he ties the man up......then wakes his wife to call the police! She must be a very heavy sleeper ????

[law007lu]

This just sounds fishy as hell. They struggled and the gun went off. And THEN, he had to wake his wife up? Has anyone heard a gun shot go off in close proximity without ear defenders. You aren't sleeping through that. Theres way more to this story. It isn't as clear cut as these one sided facts that are full of holes. 

[Webfoot]

Perhaps a three way gone awry?  A drug fueled rough sex orgy gotten out of control?  I don’t think we will ever know.

[JohnOFphon]

19 hours ago, club said:

What would happened to a Thai intruder with a loaded gun breaking into a Thai policeman's house? The Thai intruder would be shot dead with no questions asked. As it should be 

Or they would find him with his head covered in plastic bags.

[JohnOFphon]

Never mind...someone mentioned already.

Edited October 4, 2021 by JohnOFphon

[james1943]

maybe the police are only wanting a little brown bag before saying it was self defense which from being a police officer for 28 years we would have NEVER arrested him. We would investigate the case but from what i see it was pure self defense.

[LikeItHot]

I heard the Swiss man pulled his Army Knife and spooned the intruder to death.

[brianthainess]

21 hours ago, fangless said:

Was it a case of robbery as stated or a jealous husband?

Next someone will suggest, he was scaling the wall to leave.... oh <deleted> 

[LikeItHot]

43 minutes ago, james1943 said:

maybe the police are only wanting a little brown bag before saying it was self defense which from being a police officer for 28 years we would have NEVER arrested him. We would investigate the case but from what i see it was pure self defense.

A real cop would know self defense is an affirmative defense to a Charge of Murder/Homicide which could only be decided as valid by a court at most or a persecutor at least. We don't just throw a corpse in a pine box and head back to the saloon with a nod from the Sheriff. Imagine the BIB deciding guilt or innocence on the spot at every killing. Don't be ridiculous.

Edited October 5, 2021 by LikeItHot

[StevieAus]

21 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

If this Swiss man is charged with any offence at all, the Thais can kiss goodbye to attracting the high rolling Foreign people that they are so desperately seeking.

The potential 1 Million or so Digital Nomads Etc Etc Etc, will just say " <deleted> that, if I cannot defend myself , and what is mine, without prosecution."

You really think the people you refer to follow local news in Thailand?
If you were worried about crime you wouldn’t visit any country

Have a look what happens in London any night of the week, the police admit the armed gangs are out of control.

 

[renaissanc]

I think that the Swiss man was arrested so that he will be encouraged to pay money to the Police to drop the charges. I expect the Police will want about 300,000 Baht. They won't ask for more than that because the man might tell the media that he is being extorted.

[BTB1977]

There seems to be alot of holes in the Swiss man's story.  

[Franko666]

22 hours ago, chuang said:

The swiss guy must be a expert in close combat....

Yep, fought him off with his army knife.????????

[Road Warrior]

THE Thai thief got what he deserved ,good for him protecting his life and family  

[Andycoops]

23 hours ago, Gsxrnz said:

It appears justice has already been served.

Just like in the boss case.

[Franko666]

22 hours ago, steven100 said:

hmm .....  was she really as faithful as she made out    ?     I get a fishy smell and it ain't coming from the kitchen

I suspect the farmer is, sorry was attracted to fishy smells.????????‍♂️ 

[NoshowJones]

23 hours ago, Hamus Yaigh said:

There is nothing clear here. The wife said so "he tried to initiate a relationship with her but she declined his advances. She would meet him in the village and say hello, that was all."

If it is true that the intruder entered the Swiss guys property with a loaded gun, then he must have thought that he may have to use it,  that should have been the end of it. Self defence.

[Dogmatix]

I remember a case in Bangkok where a Ghanaian broke into the house of a retired air force officer and tied him to a chair demanding to know where the cash and valuables were hidden.  When he refused to say, the intruder grabbed his Pom dog and threatened it with a knife.  Eventually he got fed up with the air force officer's insistence he had nothing and slit the dog's throat and left.  The air force officer managed to free himself immediately and grabbed his gun.  He saw the African  escaping over the wall and opening fire.  The African was found in a pool of blood a couple of hundred yards away and died a few days later.  Now clearly the robber was no longer a threat to anyone's life while legging it over the wall but there was absolutely no question of arresting or charging the officer.  In fact he was hailed as a hero in the media who were mainly interested in the fate of the dog which was miraculously saved by Chul vet school.  A happy ending for everyone, except for the Ghanaian and his family probably starving and waiting for remittances from him.  

[NoshowJones]

22 hours ago, chrisandsu said:

So who said who’s gun it was ? Who said he scaled the wall ? It has to be investigated before anyones side of the truth can be believed . It’s quite easy to understand . Just for  arguments  sake he’s probably telling the truth ….. but you and I and most likely the police don’t for sure know that .

If it is proved, and I mean proved, that the intruder entered the property with a loaded gun, he got what he deserved.

[Dogmatix]

13 hours ago, Gandtee said:

Lots of theories. What about; the intruder liked to pop over the wall for a bit of nooky with the missus. Hubby was waiting for him with a gun. Knocked him out and fired a shot to look like the intruder had used the gun. Then tied him up and did him over for cuckolding him. And it went to far. Elementary my dear Watson. And as good and as useless as all the other theories. Will we see a follow up report? We shall see.????

It is impossible that a sophisticated Swiss architect would own a gun of that type.  It was clearly a black market chow baan gun, a 70s Smith & Wesson .38 revolver in poor condition with the old style thin wooden service grips that hurt the hand of the shooter even firing low power Thai practice ammo. Given his background in the Swiss army and reserves, no doubt as an officer, he would have been armed with something slick like a Sig Sauer in addition to his Swiss Army knife and handy coil of rope and boy scout knots. 

 

It is also inconceivable that he murdered Mr Sathien out of jealousy for the sexual favours he was obtaining from his wife.  If you look at Mrs Lakh in the video you can see that she is an unappealing, dumpy, rough peasant woman well passed her sell by date, if she ever had one.  Mr Rudolf knew she was a drunk and a habitual gambler and told the police that he knew she hung out with Mr Sathien as a drinking buddy. Obviously he also knew that his wife was playing around with Mr Sathien and other village hunks but didn't care as he had no further interest in her sexually.  

[EricTh]

12 hours ago, Russell17au said:

By the Thai guy hitting his head on the concrete wall or on the concrete floor causing a skull fracture and a brain bleed like what happens to many who are king hit and knocked off their feet

A weaker older man overpowering a younger man with a gun in his hand and then 'accidentally' knocking his skull onto the wall? 

 

Something is fishy and he's not telling the whole truth.

 

Wait for the autopsy and see what he died of.

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by EricTh

[Joules]

Big mistake, calling the police.  If I killed somebody in my house, he'd be dumped off in a lonely rice field.  Just another unsolved homicide.

[n00dle]

On 10/4/2021 at 10:49 AM, Doctor Tom said:

So in your view,  one person's word is all that is needed is it?  I don't think so.  Why throw the gun in the pond, odd that.  Why tie up the man if he is unconscious, odd that.  What is the relationship between the man and the wife all about, odd that.  Lots of unanswered questions here.  

If I knocked out someone who came to my house with a gun you can be damn certain I will restrain them before I call the police.

 

As for your unanswered questions, that's why police investigate.

 

 

[n00dle]

11 minutes ago, Joules said:

Big mistake, calling the police.  If I killed somebody in my house, he'd be dumped off in a lonely rice field.  Just another unsolved homicide.

Who is the fool?

[NoshowJones]

22 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

It depends , if it was self defense, he will not get charged , if it was a murder he will be charged  

That's the way it should be, I repeat SHOULD be.