Police in Udon Thani in Thailand’s north east have promised justice after a Thai man was killed by a Swiss pensioner at the foreigner’s house.
The Thai man scaled a wall and demanded money and a fight broke out after he pulled a gun.
The pensioner hit him in the head then tied him up before the police were called. But the intruder had died.
It was the early hours of Sunday when Pol Capt Sukin Rajankaew of the Nakha police went to a house one kilometer from the village in Moo 4 Ban Khamin in Kutsa sub-district.
There the police and rescue services found 53 year old Sathian dead in a kitchen behind the house. He had cheek and eyebrow cuts and bruises and had his hands and feet bound.
He was taken for an autopsy at Soon Udon Thani Hospital.
Waiting to surrender himself at the scene was Rudolf J.R., 63, the Swiss houseowner.
He admitted knocking out the victim but denied intending to kill him.
He said that late Saturday night he had been having a coffee in his kitchen. His wife had been out drinking with friends and had come home and gone to bed.
The intruder scaled a concrete wall and was armed with a gun which he pointed at him demanding “money, money”, reported Daily News.
A struggle ensued as the Swiss man said he grabbed the intruder’s arm and the gun went off but it didn’t hit anyone.
Rudolf said he threw it in the pond next to the house.
In the furious fight fists and feet were used to attack the intruder who was knocked unconscious.
Worried that he would regain consciousness the foreigner tied him up, woke up his wife and got her to contact the phu yai ban to inform the police.
However, when the phu yai ban arrived Sathian was already dead.
Lak, 44, the Swiss man’s wife, said that she and her husband had been married for ten years and lived off his retirement fund. He used to be an architect.
They had no trouble with anyone and no enemies, she said.
She admitted to being someone who liked to go out and party with friends. Two years ago she said she met Sathian, a general employee and farmer, who was a friend of a friend.
She said that he tried to initiate a relationship with her but she declined his advances. She would meet him in the village and say hello, that was all.
She never thought he would try to rob them and it would come to this.
Rudolf was taken away to the police station along with a .38 revolver that was found in the pond.
It contained 5 rounds in the chamber, one had been fired.
Pol Maj-Gen Phisanu Unhaseri said there were two cases – the first involved trespass at night with a gun and attempted murder against the victim.
The second is that the foreigner will face charges of inflicting bodily harm causing death.
Whether it was self-defence will be taken into consideration, said the provincial police chief promising “justice for both sides”.
He said there would be a full investigation.
More on this as we hear of developments in the case.
This post was republished with permission from ASEAN NOW
