Boy, 2, Stabbed To Death In Hostage Ordeal In Prawet

[Lite Beer]

DRAMA IN BANGKOK

Boy, 2, stabbed to death in hostage ordeal in Prawet

By Supachai Petchtewee

The Nation on Sunday

Cleaner tells police he took 'white pill', drank beer, had paranoia attack

A two-year-old boy is dead after a man - thought to have been delirious after drinking beer and taking a narcotics pill - stabbed him many times while holding him hostage in front of police and many onlookers in Bangkok's Prawet district yesterday afternoon.

Police rushed to the front of Number One Cleaning Service, a three-storey building in Soi Chalermprakiat, to find the man - later identified as cleaning worker Thavichai Nathongbo, 47 - holding the unconscious boy Thanapat Ketkaew at a knifepoint.

Thavichai stabbed the boy every time someone tried to get close to rescue him, so police retreated to form an alternate rescue plan.

As the man went toward police to get a phone he had requested during talks, they charged and detained him.

The boy was rushed to Sirindhorn Hospital but had sustained eight severe stab-wounds to the throat and torso and, having lost too much blood, succumbed to fatal wounds.

Thavichai told police that he worked at the company for seven months and he had been given a "white pill" by a woman the night before, which made him feel sick so his employer had him to stay at the office with the boy. He drank a bottle of beer and was set to get some sleep on the second floor when he suddenly felt paranoid that someone wanted to kill him, so he held the boy hostage.

An initial drug test on Thavichai found that he had taken a narcotic substance. Police also found he had been jailed for five years for selling heroin in Thung Mahamek.

The boy's parents, Thanapol and Napakkan Ketkaew, were shocked at what happened and overwhelmed with grief. They went to see their son for the last time at the hospital's emergency room.

Napakkan tearfully said that she left her baby boy with the man at home, as she had to bring a team of cleaning maids to work at a school. Twenty minutes later, she was told the man was holding her boy at knife point.

She said the suspect had no family or relatives and she only knew that he drank beer, not his alleged use of drugs. She said she also has a girl aged one year, staying with her mother in Roi Et.

-- The Nation 2011-07-10

[bkkjames]

Selling heroin gets 5 years? Why is the guy on the streets-sad story.

[Thailand]

Tragic!

[nottocus]

Jesus...why didn't they just take him out with a sharpshooter?

[Kilgore Trout]

Blame it on alcohol and drugs...must have a scapegoat as no Thai could possibly be mentally ill

A bottle of beer and a "narcotic pill"

[Credo]

My condolences to the family of the child. Very sad.

Some people react very badly to drugs. Part of the danger is the unpredictability of drug users.

[edgarfriendly]

some people react very badly to twisted stories that ignore incompetence and poor training as well as neglectful nature of parenting while focusing on some 'un-named bad thing' and beer .

others just add to the confusion and ignorance.

ef

[Thaddeus]

Poor little kid, very tragic.

I hope this man gets the help he desperately needs, and the rest of society is protected from him for a good while.

[jackr]

I hope this man gets the help he desperately needs, and the rest of society is protected from him for a good while.

I don't. He should be put down, period. Too much effort is made to look after wrongdoers in this world. Animals.

[duncanb]

here here.

Thats the only way to ensure he will never do something like that again

I hope this man gets the help he desperately needs, and the rest of society is protected from him for a good while.

I don't. He should be put down, period. Too much effort is made to look after wrongdoers in this world. Animals.

[sirchai]

Selling heroin gets 5 years? Why is the guy on the streets-sad story.

Thavichai stabbed the boy every time someone tried to get close to rescue him, so police retreated to form an alternate rescue plan.

No head shot possible? :jap:

[JohannaScott]

For sure, the guy should pay for what he did - a life for a life I'd say, but what was the mother doing leave her 2 year old defenseless son with someone she hardly knows?

Napakkan tearfully said that she left her baby boy with the man at home, as she had to bring a team of cleaning maids to work at a school. Twenty minutes later, she was told the man was holding her boy at knife point.

She said the suspect had no family or relatives and she only knew that he drank beer, not his alleged use of drugs. She said she also has a girl aged one year, staying with her mother in Roi Et.

[Gers1873]

Selling heroin gets 5 years? Why is the guy on the streets-sad story.

Thavichai stabbed the boy every time someone tried to get close to rescue him, so police retreated to form an alternate rescue plan.

No head shot possible? :jap:

Perhaps police were establishing which officer had the rifle this week. A head shot, sharpshooter --- too many television addicts on this forum. Hostage negotiator???

Very tragic for the poor child and his family.

As for the perpetrator --- death sentence surely??

[ginjag]

Selling heroin gets 5 years? Why is the guy on the streets-sad story.

Thavichai stabbed the boy every time someone tried to get close to rescue him, so police retreated to form an alternate rescue plan.

No head shot possible? :jap:

Perhaps police were establishing which officer had the rifle this week. A head shot, sharpshooter --- too many television addicts on this forum. Hostage negotiator???

Very tragic for the poor child and his family.

As for the perpetrator --- death sentence surely??

This man is a sicko before he drank and took drugs, they only bring out the evil. Two ways to stop things like this is to know all your sicko's in all areas. (impossible) again PREVENTION is the cure, Guarded schools, kindergartens, homes, uni's etc. and parental care-(TOTAL) I feel sorry for the lady but her parents teachings (possible) were not good enough. Sorry but I could never in a thousand years let anyone-apart from family friends near my son. (meaning in their care). The police -well another question??? I was not there but any chance to take him out was priority.

[krading]

Jesus...why didn't they just take him out with a sharpshooter?

Like the ones that took out the car-jacker in BK a while ago.

[ToffeEFCpower]

What an animal, he must be put down like a rabid dog

[pisico]

<br />

<br />Jesus...why didn't they just take him out with a sharpshooter?<br />

<br /><br />Like the ones that took out the car-jacker in BK a while ago.<img src='http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/ermm.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

It was not a sharpshooter. It was a barrage of shots from several weapons fired by the police. In that shooting, the female doctor taken hostage in the car commandeered by the drug addicted Thai, was hit by two rounds. Remember? The doctor got a brand new car courtesy of the Royal Police. A sharp shooter would have done a clean job like the one who assassinated General Seh Dang.

[arrowsdawdle]

Jesus...why didn't they just take him out with a sharpshooter?

Exactly. They can take out Seh Daeng in the middle of a crowd during an interview but permti this lunatic to keep stabbing a 2 year old and retreat? If there were any values here you could certainly say they are mixed up.

[wlcart]

how horrifying. poor kid. He is the only one that deserves no blame.

[anterian]

If you think back to the bus siege in Manila a few months back the Filipino police were equally inept, I think this is not just a Thai problem. Sharp shooters tend to be military rather than police, unlike in American films where the police regularly shoot out in shooting galleries the Thai police attend a shooting range once a year.

[Thaddeus]

the Thai police attend a shooting range once a year.

Probably because they have to pay for their own bullets.

[JoJoo]

Unbelievable !!! Police stood by and watched it happen !!

Of course they won't shoot somebody in public, they prefer to watch the scene and have a toddler stabbed to death by a maniac high on drugs..

I remember a similar hostage situation in my country Belgium a few months ago : the guy got 3 warnings, the 4th was a bullet in his head, problem solved !!

[animatic]

Sad an horrific.

When the child was stabbed as they moved in, was exactly the reason to keep moving in. The child has been stabbed and needs immediate help. The likelihood of further stabbing was there anyway and the child was already likely gravely injured. Moving faster would have been prudent. Or shooting his legs or any of a number of options besides inaction as the child bleeds out.

RIP little one, what a sad story.

[jimbeam1]

Sad an horrific.

When the child was stabbed as they moved in, was exactly the reason to keep moving in. The child has been stabbed and needs immediate help. The likelihood of further stabbing was there anyway and the child was already likely gravely injured. Moving faster would have been prudent. Or shooting his legs or any of a number of options besides inaction as the child bleeds out.

RIP little one, what a sad story.

I agree with you 100%.I live in Prawet. The problem is the local bib are only trained to stop Idiots on motorbikes a couple of times a week, anything else they have to refer to the manual.

Really sorry for the little lad though, RIP.

jb1

[jc14all]

Jesus...why didn't they just take him out with a sharpshooter?

My thoughts exactly.

[FOODLOVER]

Police stand by as toddler gets stabbed repeatedly in the neck and abdomen.

RIP Baby

Sleep well Cops

[ScubaBuddha]

Jesus...why didn't they just take him out with a sharpshooter?

This really highlights the ineptness of the "police" here. (although they aren't really police in the western sense of the term) This is at least the 3rd or 4th time I have read a story where a crazed Thai man grabs a child hostage then slowly kills him/her as the cops stand by and watch. I have never understood why the police are so scared to use their weapons here. Makes me want to take a gun from them so I can put and end to the scumbag myself.

And allowing bystanders to look on from a few meters away. I've seen it time and again, Thai cops NEVER secure the scene. That is like policing 101 stuff. It makes it difficult to get a clear shot without endangering bystanders. I understand that they may not be able to get a long gun/sharpshooter to the scene in time, but from those distances a shot from a handgun would be sufficient. Any civil servant carrying firearms in public should be able to take that shot. I grant wasn't there and I don't know all the variables, but from previous incidents I have seen video of, the scenes are absolute chaos. There seems to be no contingency for this kind of thing in Thailand, which is odd considering how often it seems to happen. Most high level Thai officers have attended training in western countries, or by western instructors in this country, so why are these situations not handled properly?

RIP little buddy.

.

Edited July 10, 2011 by ScubaBuddha

[ginjag]

Jesus...why didn't they just take him out with a sharpshooter?

This really highlights the ineptness of the "police" here. (although they aren't really police in the western sense of the term) This is at least the 3rd or 4th time I have read a story where a crazed Thai man grabs a child hostage then slowly kills him/her as the cops stand by and watch. I have never understood why the police are so scared to use their weapons here. Makes me want to take a gun from them so I can put and end to the scumbag myself.

And allowing bystanders to look on from a few meters away. I've seen it time and again, Thai cops NEVER secure the scene. That is like policing 101 stuff. It makes it difficult to get a clear shot without endangering bystanders. I understand that they may not be able to get a long gun/sharpshooter to the scene in time, but from those distances a shot from a handgun would be sufficient. Any civil servant carrying firearms in public should be able to take that shot. I grant wasn't there and I don't know all the variables, but from previous incidents I have seen video of, the scenes are absolute chaos. There seems to be no contingency for this kind of thing in Thailand, which is odd considering how often it seems to happen. Most high level Thai officers have attended training in western countries, or by western instructors in this country, so why are these situations not handled properly?

RIP little buddy.

.

Maybe the reason why the police didn't do their job in BKK red siege episode. That to me was their job to prevent the masses -massing in the first place, hence stopping the big deal from erupting. On topic this situation is a failure to act and do the professional work they are required by law to do.

The lack of all round training in their work is noticeable, road blocks they have mastered to a fine art

[hungryhippo]

Blame it on alcohol and drugs...must have a scapegoat as no Thai could possibly be mentally ill

A bottle of beer and a "narcotic pill"

Problem with your point of view is that mentally ill people can't commit crimes in Thailand. So if he was declared mentally ill he'd just be transferred to a mental hospital with charges against him dropped.

[webfact]

Parents Attack 2-year-old Boy Killer at Re-enactment

Locals ganged up on the murderer of a two-year-old boy on Saturday when he was brought to the crime scene by the police to re-enact the incident.

Locals and relatives of two-year-old Thanapat Ketkaew, could not control their emotions when Taweechai Nathongbor was brought to the Number One Cleaning Service Company in Soi Chalermprakiat in the Pravej area to re-enact the kidnapping and murder of the boy.

The suspect said when he woke up on Saturday morning, he was hallucinating and felt as though he was being followed.

When he came down the stairs, he saw the boy taking a nap so he took the boy hostage and put a knife to the boy's body.

Multiple attempts at negotiations failed, before police found an opportunity to charge at the man.

The boy sustained multiple knife wounds to his body and eventually succumbed to his injuries at the hospital later in the day.

Police said the suspect had a history of drug use as well as dealing heroine.

The parents of the boy, Thanapol and Napakkarn Ketkaew, have taken the boy’s body from the Police Hospital to the Pakbor Temple in the Onnuch area for funeral services.

The boy’s mother said she does not feel animosity towards her son’s nanny or the suspect, adding that she believes the nanny did her best and that anger will not bring her son back.

-- Tan Network 2011-07-11