MURDER

MP claims son's killing politically motivated

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- MP Chada Thaiseth yesterday dismissed the claim of the murder suspect that road rage had caused the shooting of his son Farut, saying he believed the attack was politically motivated.

Mun Poolsap, the driver of a pickup truck who surrendered to police, had testified that Farut opened fire first and he shot Farut back in self-defence.

Chada, an MP for the Chart Thai Pattana Party, said he believed the man who turned himself in to police was the man who shot his son and was not a scapegoat.

Although only one person shot at his son, there were accomplices, he said, adding that there were two people in the pickup that cut in front of him twice as they tried to overtake him.

Farut was reportedly following Chada's car.

Chada said he had received warnings twice before his son was killed.

"As a person who has lost a son, I have been made to look like I'm the guilty party. I want to put the matter to rest. I have forgiven them but some people are trying to drag the story out and drive me and the man who surrendered into a conflict,'' he said.

Pol Lt-General Panu Kerdlappol, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 3, said the five people in the car driven by Farut had said that Farut did not open fire first. Although Chada insists there was more than one man involved, other witnesses did not confirm that more than one person was in the vehicle that carried the suspected gunman, he said.

Police said they had all the necessary evidence but they have not found the gun that the suspect said he tossed out the window while fleeing, he said.

"The suspect might not remember the place where he threw the gun away but we have offered a reward for any farmer finding the gun," he said.

He said police would handle this case in a straightforward manner and solve it before he is promoted to assistant National Police chief.

-- The Nation 2012-09-06

Police vs politician veracity? That's a difficult one. I'd tend to believe the guy who turned himself in.

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It seems to come down to a man with an over-inflated sense of his own importance refusing to accept that his son died in such vulgar lo-so circumstances - shot to death while making a stupid and criminal attack on another motorist. Nothing short of an assassination attempt intended for his noble self will satisfy his ego.

The facts minimise any sympathy I would otherwise feel for his loss.