Phuket - 9 youths in glue-fueled stabbing frenzy

[dirtydog]

Nine youths in glue-fueled stabbing frenzy

PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Police have arrested five of nine youths wanted for the savage murder of Keittirat Longnawa, a 31-year-old transsexual and glue addict who was beaten and had his throat slashed in Rassada on January 31.

Police are still searching for four more suspects in the case. All nine suspects, including two girls, ranged in age from 14 to 21, police said.

Phuket Police Station Superintendent Col Nos Sawetalek told reporters that around 8 pm on January 31, a group of 10 youths gathered to sniff glue in a forested area about 100 meters off Soi Honsaitong in Rassada Village 3.

While intoxicated, one of the teens, a 16-year-old, became incensed at K. Keittirat. Taking a kitchen knife carried by one of the girls, he stabbed the transsexual, a native of Ao Luk District in Krabi.

Police said they could not confirm a report in the Thai-language press that the reason for the youngster’s s anger was that he was convinced that the ladyboy had used witchcraft to put a spell on him that caused stomach pain.

Whatever the motive, after teen attacked the victim the other teens all joined him in a frenzy, taking turns stabbing, kicking and hitting the victim with sticks, Col Nos said.

The initial assailant was one of the youths arrested.

K. Keittirat’s bloody corpse was discovered the following afternoon by a villager, who informed police. The victim was clad only in jeans, with a brassiere, address book, sandals and two bloodied bags containing glue nearby.

Police said the body was later identified by a friend, who revealed that K. Keittirat had lived in Soi Mordoo (“Fortune teller Street”), also in Rassada.

All of the suspects were known to police as habitual glue users, although none had been convicted of a violent crime before.

The five arrested have been charged with conspiring to commit murder.

Phuket gazette

[dirtydog]

Teenage murder suspects still at large

PHUKET: Four teenagers of the nine suspects in the murder of transsexual and glue addict Keittirat Longnawa remain at large while police try to learn all of their full names so that a single warrant for their arrest can be requested from the court.

Lt Col Adul Niraphai, an Investigating Inspector at Phuket City Police Station, told the Gazette that he knows the full names of two of the teenagers, one 17 and the other 18, but only the nicknames of the two other suspects.

Col Adul told the Gazette that police investigators need the full names of a 14-year-old girl nicknamed “Rom” and 17-year-old boy nicknamed “Mut” before being able to request an arrest warrant for the four remaining suspects.

All were “friends” of 31-year-old Keittirat, whose body was found on January 31 with its throat slashed in a forested area off Soi Honsaitong in Rassada Village 3.

Keittirat, originally from Ao Luk District, Krabi, was living on Soi Mordoo in Rassada at the time of his death, a friend who identified the body told police.

Five suspects, ranging from a 16-year-old girl to a 21-year-old man, have been charged with conspiring to commit murder in the case.

According to police, the youths were huffing glue with the victim when one of the boys became enraged and stabbed K. Keittirat with a kitchen knife.

High on glue, the other eight youths then joined in a frenzy of stabbing, kicking and hitting the victim with sticks, Phuket City Police Station Superintendent Col Nos Sawetalek reported earlier.

Phuket Gazette

[dirtydog]

Teen murder suspect arrested

RASSADA: Police on Saturday arrested another member of the glue-sniffing youth gang wanted in connection with the murder of Keittirat Longnawa, a 31-year-old transsexual and glue addict who was beaten and had his throat slashed January 31.

Police identified the suspect as 18-year-old Thitinun “Wung” Vongnayat, arrested in his Rassada home at about 1 am.

Phuket City Police Investigations Inspector Lt Col Adul Nirapai told the Gazette that Thitinun helped beat the victim, but was not among the three youths who stabbed K. Keittirat.

As an adult, Thitinun will be charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

The arrest is the sixth of the gang’s nine members. The 16-year-old boy who initiated the attack by stabbing K. Keittirat is already in custody, charged in the Phuket Provincial Juvenile and Family Court with premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Police are continuing their investigation and preparing to request arrest warrants for the remaining three gang members, including a 14-year-old girl named “Rom” and a 17-year-old boy named “Pol”.

Both are suspected of stabbing the victim and will be charged with premeditated murder as well as conspiracy to commit murder, Col Adul said.

Phuket Gazette