I Poisoned Them, Thai Teacher Admits

[george]

I poisoned them, teacher admits

SAMUT PRAKAN: -- A teacher yesterday was charged with attempted murder with intent after she confessed to poisoning 32 students at Suan Praeksa Kindergarten in Samut Prakan.

Provincial Police Chief Maj-General Suwira Songmetta said Thananya Hommak, 33, confessed after six hours of questioning that she mixed the pesticide Lannate into a chocolate drink for her students.

Thananya, who also drank the poison, and her class, suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea and were hospitalised for food poisoning on June 28.

She said she poisoned the students and herself to create chaos and time to pay money back to the school's owner. Earlier, Thananya had been caught embezzling Bt150,000 from the owner, Suwira said.

"She admitted she committed the offence because she was angry about being rebuked by the school's owner after being caught embezzling, and wanted to defame the school,'' Suwira said.

Thananya had been earlier asked to help with the school owner's real-estate business, and allegedly embezzled Bt150,000 in instalment payments clients had put down on houses. She said she needed the money to pay back debts she had sought from non-bank lenders. The school allowed her to continue teaching but demanded she return the money.

Thananya undertook a lie-detector test during the questioning. The test's results showed Thananya had an irregular pulse whenever she was asked about the poisoning.

Police first suspected the poisoning had been an accident, reasoning someone could have mistook the pesticide for sugar. After several days of investigation, police began to suspect Thananya was the culprit.

They issued an arrest warrant and searched her house on Monday but she was admitted to the hospital two hours before police arrived. Her neighbours said she had been vomiting and had strong diarrhoea, the same symptoms she and the students exhibited on June 8.

Doctors said her mouth was contracted. A physical check-up found insecticide in her stomach. Police believed Thananya poisoned herself out of fear of being caught.

Suwira also believes Thananya was mentally disturbed. Thananya was once pregnant, but her child died soon after birth and the teacher had since become obsessed with the idea of having another baby. A search of her home revealed many books on reincarnation, violence and poisoning.

"Some of the books' contents bear similarities to the June 28 poisoning incident. In one episode in [the book] 'Die from Drugs, Kill with Poison', a Chinese teacher mixes poisonous chemicals with soybean milk for her students while another episode mentions Lannate," said Suwira.

After confessing, police had Thananya re-enact the crime, at the shop in Samrong Nua where she bought the Lannate and at the school, where she slipped the poison into the drinks.

--The Nation 2004-07-10

[zappa]

Although I don't have a lot of sympathy for this woman, I can understand her fear of the money lenders. Teachers, esspecialy in private sector schools, have to work very long hours for fuk all money. My wife is one and she does a 12-14 hour day for 8,000 a month. And because she's at a private school she's also expected to come to work when ever her boss deems fit. Sats. Suns. and can have her holidays cut short with only a few hours notice.

These teachers have no job security, very little money and can't get legitamet loans from banks without a garanter, no wonder they go to the black market money lenders for the little luxuries of life.

Until the government gives these women the same rights and privaleges as gov. school teachers, there will be a perpetual cycle of debt and poverty for private sector teachers. I'm surprised that this kind of thing hasn't happend before, and will not be surprised if/when it happens again.