A Roi Et man upset with a massage parlour owner after she spurned his romantic overtures shot at her place with his pistol, and took along his five-year-old daughter for the ride.
Muang police arrested Yittha Maohrasee, 30, last week and seized his weapon, a 9mm, and his pickup, after the traditional Thai massage shop owner, Kaewta Kaewsang, 39, was shot in the left wrist and left knee.
She was alone at her Ran Suk Kai Suk Jai shop on Ronnachai Chan Yut Road, soi 2, in Nai Muang on Nov 12 when Mr Yittha turned up in his pickup and revved the engine to show his raw manpower. He shouted at the front of the shop, and shot at the glass frontage three times, hitting Ms Kaewta. She is now in hospital recovering.
Mr Yittha, originally from Samut Sakhon, earlier laid a police complaint alleging staff at the massage shop had mistreated his child, whom he took along with him when he visited the shop for massages. He also claimed staff stole four Buddhist amulets he had with him on his last visit a couple of weeks ago.
Ms Kaewta denied her staff mistreated the child, as she is a mother herself. She said everyone had grown close to Mr Yittha and his daughter during his visits as a customer, which go back about a year. However, ties started to strain after Mr Yittha showed a romantic interest in Ms Kaewta.
The massage shop owner said when Covid struck, most of her staff went home. Previously he was massaged by the staff; when staffing fell short, she turned to doing it herself. As the pair drew closer, he would turn up with his daughter after hours, and ask to take meals and drink together. He also asked to sleep over. Ms Kaewta said when she told him she did not want any romantic attachments, he grew upset.
On a subsequent visit, he claimed staff had slapped his child on the head, though some reports say one also kicked her chair, forcing the child to the ground. He also claimed his amulets went missing.
While staff deny any irregularity, Mr Yittha was not appeased. About 2pm the same day as the shooting incident, he turned up with a Sparta knife, walking up and down outside the shop to show his displeasure.
The shooting took place about 6pm. After she complained, police arrested him at his home about 10pm.
At home, he told his father what happened. His father, Term Maohrasee, was coincidentally in the news himself a few months ago after a clip emerged of him striking his wife in a row over money. In a colourful side story, she later went to police saying she wanted a divorce, as Mr Term would demand sex four or five times a day and get upset when she was too tired to provide it.
He attributed his stamina to the large amounts of coconut juice he likes to drink, which gave rise to a moniker on social media likening coconut juice, which his family makes and sells, to the old man’s veracity in bed.
Back to the aftermath of the shooting, Mr Term said he was shocked to hear his son’s account of what happened, so turned to his grand-daughter, whom Mr Yittha took along with him in the vehicle.
She had earlier told him about staff slapping her at the shop, just as his son had told him about the apparent theft of his amulets. “I asked the little girl what her father had done. She said he got out, shouted at the front of the shop demanding they return his amulets, and shot the place up,” he said.
He didn’t know much more but heard his daughter ask, ‘Dad, why did you shoot her?’
Mr Term, who called Ms Kaewta to apologise for his son’s misconduct, said Mr Yittha had never been in such trouble before. “After returning from working in Pattaya for two years, he raised cattle and supported his daughter. He and the child’s mother quit when she was still a baby,” he said.
As he arranged bail for his son, Mr Term asked both sides to forgive each other, while admitting his son has a hot temper. Word on the charges he faces was still pending.
Tragic comedy of errors
Three adults who tossed the unconscious body of a three-year-old boy into a canal in Samut Prakan thought mistakenly he was dead, police say.
Suspects show police how they disposed of the boy.
Unveiling details of the tragic case last week, Bang Bo police superintendent, Pol Col Krissanat Wongklahan, said the autopsy on the boy, Worraphat “Bass” Sathianpian, showed he drowned, though his body was also heavily bruised after he was assaulted hours earlier.
Bass’ body was found floating in the canal at Ban Khlong Chuat Phrao, Rattanakosin 200 Pi Road of Bang Bo on Nov 9. He was found with a sanitary mask still around his neck. The passerby who found him, face down and partly submerged, thought at first he was a doll.
A cleaner friend of the mother’s, Waraporn Somboon, 28, was one of the trio who threw his body into the canal. She had earlier beaten the child until he fell unconscious. Unhappily for the child, she assumed she was dead, so did not seek medical help.
She contacted the other two to come up with a plan to disguise the child’s “death” by throwing the boy into the canal. They lied to the mother about what happened until she contacted police. Bang Bo police last week arrested the three for the premeditated murder of Bass.
Ms Waraporn said she took the boy to her workplace in Hathairat, Min Buri where she had a cleaning job that day and when he played up, beat him in brutal scenes witnessed by a neighbour. Assuming he was dead, she consulted her partner, Narisara Jeensamran, in whose care the mother had placed the child.
The mother, Nida Sathianpian, who lives in Bang Kae and has known Ms Narisara for 10 years, collects old goods for sale. She was too busy with work to look after the child so on Oct 30 asked Ms Narisara to care for her son. She gave him to Ms Waraporn to look after. After hearing from her tomboy partner about the child’s supposed death, Ms Narisara contacted her father, Rewat, a security guard, who came up with the plan to dump the child in the canal.
The women took the child on a motorbike to Ms Narisara’s father’s place where they met for a couple of hours to discuss what to do with the boy. Once again, no one thought to check whether he was breathing or seek medical help.
They disposed of the child in the canal about 11pm. In subsequent contacts with the mother, they tried to put off the day when she was to pick up the child, asking for babysitting fees which they knew she could not afford, and later claiming they lost the child on an outing to see some monkeys.
According to news reports, they even took a picture of the boy’s body to say he had been killed but no one knew the culprit. Ms Nida went to the police on Nov 11.
Police rounded up the tomboy pair along with Ms Narisara’s father, Mr Rewat. They admitted their wrongdoing and in tears apologised through the media to the mother.
In an unusual twist, the autopsy found Bass was infected with Covid-19. Tests found his mother was too, though the suspects were in the clear. The finding forced the closure of Bang Bo station for an hour as fumigators were brought in.
Police say Mr Rewat proposed dumping the child in the Bang Pakong River in Chachoengsao. However, on the way there they spotted an isolated spot by the Bang Bo canal and dumped him in there instead.
Media reports said the women suspects and the father, carrying the child, squeezed onto a motorbike for the journey which covered almost 100km. After disposing of the boy they returned home as if nothing had happened. Thai Rath newspaper said the mother, Ms Nida, has five children by five different fathers, and regularly leaves the children with other people.
FRONT PICTURE Suspects show police how they disposed of the boy.
