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Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
Lifestyle

Beware the boot, naked justice, toyboy tires of lover

A Samut Prakan who spun an elaborate plot after killing his former boss gave the game away after the body was found in a forest by the side of the road.

Jirasak 'New' Rientiang

Police arrested Jirasak "New" Rientiang, 20, for killing construction contractor Makrathawat Kongwattanapong, 37, whom he kicked repeatedly with a steel-tipped boot until he was dead.

Makrathawat's body, bound at the hands and feet and wearing just a pair of underwear, was found in Bang Phli district on Oct 29, about 5km away from the rented room where he was killed.

Mr New visited him at his place close to Wat Nam Daeng late on Oct 27. He had decided he needed to "clear the air" with Makrathawat, whom he resented after laying him off when he caught Covid-19.

That left him unable to pay the bills or support his wife, who is six-months pregnant. Even when he worked for Makrathawat he was slow at paying wages owed, he grumbled.

Mr New decided to travel to his boss's place after getting drunk, following his discharge from the hospital where he was treated for Covid-19.

When Mr New turned up at Makrathawat's place, he let himself in through a sliding door. His ex-boss, who must have known to expect trouble, raced into his room, with Mr New in hot pursuit.

Mr New punched him in the side of the head, and started kicking the victim in the head and neck with his steel-tapped boots until Makrathawat stopped struggling.

Next, New pulled up Makrathawat's pickup alongside his room so he could bundle his body in the back. "I was still kicking him in the neck as I was worried he would revive," he told police.

When he was sure Makrathawat was dead, he tied up the victim's hands and feet with a rope from the truck and dumped the body. A fisherman was to find it in a wooded area several days later.

Later, Mr New retrieved some carpentry gear from the back of the victim's truck, which he sold online. In the next couple of days he also managed to sell Makrathawat's truck and motorcycle.

Perhaps to buy himself some time, Mr New posted to the victim's social media account, claiming the victim had found work elsewhere in Samut Prakan province and Songkhla, and asking for time alone. This was to maintain the fiction that Makrathawat was still alive, though the killer must have known the ruse could not last long.

Jirasak 'New' Rientiang performs a crime re-enactment.

Finally, Mr New returned to his mother's place in Chachoengsao. When he saw in the news that Makrathawat's body had been found, he suffered an attack of nerves. He told his wife and mother that he had killed his former boss. They urged him to go to the police, who were able to arrest him in Min Buri on Oct 30.

Announcing the arrest on Oct 31, Police Region 1, Samut Prakan and Bang Kaew police said Mr New had been charged with murder with intent, theft, and hiding the body. Despite the elaborate plotting, the young man claimed he did not intend to kill his boss, merely to sort out their differences.

Nothing like a cannabis high

Locals delivered raw justice to a young man who turned up at a rubber factory, stripped off and started harassing people.

Natthapong Promphap

Kaeng Sopha police nabbed Natthapong Promphap, 24, after he threatened four workers at the plant. Earlier, he killed a neighbour after getting high on cannabis, though no one knew that at the time.

He killed his neighbour, Tuan Soprom, 57, following an argument at the victim's rubber tapping hut in Wang Thong district.

Fleeing the scene, Natthapong headed out onto the road where he forced a man at knifepoint to take him to the rubber factory about 20km away.

CCTV cameras show him walking towards workers at the factory, undress, and parade about naked.

He also wandered out onto the road, where locals armed with iron bars chase him back into the factory compound and start kicking and punching him.

Natthapong climbs on top of the roof of a pickup to escape their wrath, and onto the roof of a nearby building. However, he loses his balance and falls off. Locals catch him and call the police.

The interaction lasts just 20 minutes. Earlier, police were to discover later, Natthapong killed a neighbour at a rubber plantation close to his home.

Natthapong and Tuan were smoking cannabis when they started arguing. The young man struck his victim in the head and neck with a meat cleaver, killing him, after Tuan remarked that Natthapong had failed to accomplish anything in life.

Later he wandered out onto the road where he forced Chakkrit Kaewchan, 25, to take him from the scene. "I asked him where he was going and he replied, wherever, you go, I go," Mr Chakkrit told police, who was heading to work when Natthapong jumped onto the road, blocking his path.

He took Natthapong to the factory. It is not known why the killer chose this spot for his next act, but locals did not put up with him for long. The CCTV cameras show was there about 20 minutes before locals grab him, following his naked antics and fall from the roof.

Tuan Soprom

His grandmother, Khampien Sonpan, 60, said Natthapong had come to see her five days before after he and his wife argued. "He hasn't done much since he turned up; I have to do all his cooking," she told reporters.

"At night he lies there laughing to himself." His wife and children turned up from their home in the provinces, pleading with him to return but he refused, she said.

Her grandson was in a depressed state, she said. He spent his time sharpening a knife, which he said was intended to cut his own throat.

She also saw him put up a rope under the house, which was to hang himself. Later he went out in search of Tuan for a smoke, and that was the last she saw of him.

Alisa Soprom, 35, the victim's daughter, said Tuan and Natthapong had never had problems before. "I suspect Natthapong might have grown annoyed because my Dad was hard of hearing and spoke with a loud voice," she said. They knew each other as locals from the village, though Natthapong is rarely there as he lives elsewhere with his family.

Police charged him with murder. While Natthapong has a history of narcotics abuse, police say a urine test yielded traces of the cannabis only.

Toyboy begs for freedom

A middle-aged kathoey says her toy-boy lover threatened her with a gun when she confronted him and a woman at a Phatthalung hotel.

Amnuay Sukkaew drags the 'other woman' from a hotel.

Muang district police on Nov 1 nabbed Apichart Thongdeepeng, 18, after he threatened to shoot Amnuay Sukkaew, 46. The pair have been together a year but the young man, evidently tired of the relationship, sent Amnuay a picture of him in bed with his young admirer, taunting her.

He also took with him to the hotel a gun and two bullets, as if preparing himself for the confrontation which would follow. Police retrieved them.

Amnuay, who dresses as a woman but was identified in news reports by her male birth name, said she went in search of Mr Apichart after he sent the pictures.

"He told me he was going to his parents' place to stay the night, but when I called the next morning he did not answer. A few hours later, Apichart sent me pictures of him sleeping with a woman.

"I was upset so I went out in search of him. I visited many hotels before I finally found his motorcycle parked outside.

"I waited two hours before knocking at the door. When I saw the pair inside I marched in and slapped him to teach him a lesson, and dragged the woman out."

Amnuay said she tended to the young man's every wish, including buying him a motorcycle and letting him use her car. But it was not enough.

CCTV cameras show Amnuay dragging the woman from the room by her hair. She runs back inside to be with Mr Apichart.

The young man shouts at Amnuay, telling her to leave. News reports said customers at the hotel were stunned and left their rooms to watch.

"Apichart pulled out a gun and pointed it at me. He said if I didn't leave, he would kill me, as he had decided on this course," Amnuay said later. It was unclear at press time what charges he would face.

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