Last Week In Reality: Aug 1 - Aug 3

August 15th, 2008

1 FRI

In Nakhon Sri Ayuthaya, an intoxicated man roams the streets, sword in hand, in search of someone who manhandled his wife. Thongchai Mongkhongchai, a 47-year-old mechanic, drinks beer for three consecutive days. At tipping point, he grabs a 30-inch long sword and takes to the streets swinging it around and shouting, “Who touched my wife’s ass?” Ten officers are sent to arrest him, but Thongchai becomes even more enraged. The police resort to shooting him with a BB gun. Thongchai suffers minor injuries.

In Bangkok, a man is suspected of suffocating his daughter to death before he hangs himself. The wife of 35-year-old Singaporean Lim Sai Sim fi nds her daughter’s body on the bed with a pillow over her face and her husband hanging with a towel around his neck in their apartment on Suthisarn Road. She tells the police that she and her husband have had regular arguments about their fi nances as well as their daughter.

2 SAT

In Chonburi, a teenage boy’s finger is stuck in his motorcycle’s engine for 14 hours. Chiramat Nathanithisin, 17, with the help of a mechanic, sets out to fix his motorcycle. As he sticks his left index fi nger into the engine to adjust the oil fi lter, it gets stuck. Chiramat’s father offers to saw open the engine, but Chiramat refuses to damage his motorcycle and decides to wait for the swelling to go down. Fourteen hours later, he fi nally agrees to call for help. Rescue workers take an hour to safely dislodge the teenager’s finger.

3 SUN

In Bangkok, a disturbed teenager stabs a taxi driver to death after playing a violent online video game. Pholwat Chinno, 19, is an avid player of Grand Theft Auto, where one plays a mobster killing his way through missions. In a reenactment, Pholwat decides to hijack a taxi by threatening the driver, Khuan Phokhaeng, 54, with a knife. When Khuan fi ghts back, Pholwat stabs him repeatedly. The driver escapes but collapses from his wounds. Pholwat drags the body back into the taxi, and attempts a getaway, only to realize his real life driving skills are nothing like his virtual ones. Police catch him and the teenager confesses, saying he was hoping to steal some cash to fund his online-gaming obsession.