Smile, you're on camera
Security cameras captured the moment a man brutally robbed and murdered a woman in Songkhla, and followed him again when he returned in a brazen attempt to steal more.
Saba Yoi police last Wednesday nabbed an exhausted Faison Madaha, 32, originally from Pattani, for throttling to death Ouwaiporn Saensut, 63, at her home two days before.
She had hired him to cut the grass at a family-owned rubber plantation nearby but Mr Faison flared up when she criticised him before he started the job. He killed her inside her house before making off with various goods which he pawned at a shop nearby.
Later that night, he cheekily returned to the house, driving past with a friend, only to abandon his motorcycle and flee on foot when he saw police had already found the body and were combing over the house. His mate, however, was caught by police.
With the police net around him closing fast, Mr Faison bizarrely sought shelter at a hut owned by his wife's relatives, where police caught up with him at midnight. He was in an exhausted state, media reports said, after going without food for some time.
The saga started on the afternoon of July 9 when Mr Faison left the house he shared with his wife and their two-month-old child.
Police spoke to the killer's wife, unnamed in news reports, who said Mr Faison took her to see the doctor that morning, and left home later that afternoon. He did not return.
Speaking to police, Mr Faison said he pawned the phone and grass-cutter stolen from the victim's house to feed his drug habit. His wife said she did not know her husband was taking drugs, though admitted they were hard up. A neighbour said the couple had moved to the area just a month before.
Many of the killer's movements were captured by CCTV cameras. For the most part, he did not seem aware of them, or he was, they did not deter.
CCTV vision from a camera opposite the victim's house shows him leaning on her fence on July 9 as she approached and handed over a gallon drum with fuel for a hand-held grass cutter.
Trustingly, she leads him inside her home. The footage shows him walking out again briefly and approaching a garage next door before walking back inside, which is when he is thought to have killed her.
Some time later he leaves, taking the victim's Yamaha Fino motorcycle, a hand-held lawnmower, her wallet, and phone which he later pawned.
He also left the air con on, which attracted the attention of Ouwaiporn's cousin, who lives opposite. She called the victim's son later that day to say the air was on but she hadn't seen the victim in hours.
He turned up at the house that evening to find his mother dead, and called police.
CCTV cameras inside the victim's house also caught the moment Ouwaiporn was murdered, and the killer's attempt to cover up the crime.
The killer grabs an electric cord from a rice cooker and throttles her with it, before dragging her body to the rear of the house. He also mops the floor and wipes the cord clean of any evidence.
He sees a camera and unplugs it, thinking it has stopped operating. In fact, the camera is still recording his movements.
Meanwhile, the camera opposite the house shows him leaving and then returning again that night with a friend. This is when, startled by the sight of police, he abandons his vehicle and his hapless mate, who was caught by police.
His friend, who lives in the same house as the killer, said he knew nothing of the murder or robbery.
Mr Faison had invited him along on the trip to the house, and earlier when he took the items stolen from the victim's house to be pawned at a shop nearby.
"He told me a friend had left them with him to be pawned but he no longer wanted them, so he decided to pawn them himself and keep the money," his mate told reporters. The pawn shop, run by an assistant village headman, gave him 1,400 baht for the goods, which he later spent on his drug habit.
His friend was later released. Police charged Mr Faison with murder.
The victim's son said his mother had hired Mr Faison several times to mow the grass, so she trusted him. Her cousin opposite, however, said he looked like a druggie, with a mean face, and she could not understand why she hired the man.
'I was waiting to die'
A young man who made a death-defying leap from the fifth floor of a condo after stabbing a woman in a thwarted attempted robbery has been caught.
Pak Kret police nabbed Phisetsak Boonpaew, 26, at his mother's place in Rom Klao village in Lat Krabang, Bangkok where he fled after his daring attempt to rob Suradee Ngamphutad, 65, in her Muang Thong Thani condo.
Mr Phisetsak broke in early on July 2 and was hiding in the bathroom when Ms Suradee entered. She put up a fight as the robber pulled out a short knife and slashed her throat.
Ms Suradee called out to her 14-year-old grandson, who was staying there. When he came to her aid the young thief panicked. He clambered onto a fire escape balcony and jumped onto the roof of a noodle shop below, which broke his fall.
CCTV vision shows him picking himself up and clambering over a wall to take shelter in a nearby forest, where he was to spend the next two nights undetected by police.
Mr Phisetsak, who says he took drugs before breaking into the woman's home, said he intended to kill himself when he jumped. He did not realise the roof, which saved him from serious injury, was below.
"I spent two nights in the forest swatting mosquitoes and without food or water, waiting to die, but my body refused to let go," he said.
The young man walked bare-footed to his mother's place in Bangkok, as he knew nowhere else to go. He had one baht left in his pocket as he had spent the rest on drugs.
He ate whatever he could salvage on the side of the road and drank water from the toilet of a petrol station on his travels. He also slept one night at an abandoned hotel.
When he returned home, his mother called the police. They charged him with assault causing injury and weapons offences. Ms Suradee was stabbed in the throat, arms and hands in the attack, but is out of danger.
Nonthaburi province police, meanwhile, chastised Pak Kret investigators for working too slowly on the case. Their tardy response enabled the young attacker to escape undetected, they were told.
Mum celebrates son's demise
An Udon Thani pensioner is celebrating the death of her druggie son, whom she said assaulted her so many times she was in fear of her life.
Si That police last week nabbed Pakin Ritthimarn, 46, for the dramatic murder of his brother-in-law Somwai Akka, 37. He fired a fishing spear at him after he hit him with a piece of wood.
One person not grieving over his death is his own mother, Sai Akka, 71, who did a little jig for reporters to show how happy she was that he had met his demise.
Ms Sai said her son had been heavily addicted to drugs since working overseas years ago. He had no work and would ask her every day for money to buy drugs. When she refused, he would smash up the place or hit her.
"I was worried he would take my life one day. I was so scared I had to sleep with relatives," she said.
CCTV vision shows Somwai and a mate cruising about the village on a motorcycle on July 6, shortly before he was to meet his fate.
Mr Pakin said Somwai turned up at his place and demanded cash from his elder sister. He and his wife, who suspect he had been drinking and was high on drugs, told him to leave.
Somwai kicked Mr Pakin, who kicked him back. Undeterred, Somwai charged at Mr Pakin with a one-metre plank of wood and threatened to kill him.
Mr Pakin, who fishes at a lake in the village to help raise his family, grabbed his fishing spear and fired. "I meant to hit him in the leg to teach him a lesson, but it hit him in the hip instead," Mr Pakin told police.
Somwai tried hitting him again with the plank of wood, despite his hip injury. Mr Pakin said he used the spear to fend off the attack, which broke the plank in half. He also hit Somwai over the head with it until he was subdued. Somwai died at the scene.
Village headman Toranong Sridawong, 59, said Somwai was always causing problems. "I get five complaints a week from people in the village about his behaviour, including vehicle thefts," he said.
Police charged Mr Pakin, who claimed he was acting in self-defence, with assault causing death.
