National—
At 9:00 AM, on January 18th, 2024, Mr. Chaichana Dejdecho, the chairman of the Parliament’s Committee on Police Affairs, told Thai national media regarding the case of a teenage group murdering a mentally ill woman, Ms. Buaphan, in Aranyaprathet, Sa Kaeo.
The victim, who reportedly had mental illnesses, was physically assaulted to her death by five teens aged 13 to 16 and was thrown into a pond near a school in Sa Kaeo. It was later reported that two of the suspects were sons of an investigative police officer in Aranyaprathet.
After the incident, Mr. Panya Kongsaenkham, the husband of the victim, falsely testified to the police that he was the one who murdered his wife. However, Panya was released as the investigative police found new evidence showing that he wasn’t even present at the murder scene later leading to the transfer of the Deputy Superintendent of the Aranyaprathet Police.
Chaichana said to Thai media that the committee asked Pol. Gen. Surachet Hakphan, the Deputy National Police Chief, regarding the facts on why the Aranyaprathet police arrested Panya before properly gathering evidence from CCTV footage.
Regarding the case that Panya was allegedly abused to falsely testify to the police that he murdered his wife, the committee was investigating the facts, said Chaichana.
It was reported that leaked footage of Panya being abused while being covered with a black bag was just a prank by the police but Chaichana said to Thai media that he was not convinced. As a result, the Deputy Superintendent of Aranyaprathet Police was transferred to an inactive post while the investigation continues.
The committee would investigate further to hold involved individuals accountable according to the law without exception, remarked Chaichana.
Regarding an amendment of the law to equalize the punishment of youths and adults, he opted to take facts and problems of society and present them case by case according to their crimes.
In this case, there was reportedly a leaked group chat indicating allegedly violent behaviors as a team and previous violent acts. Furthermore, this teenage group also allegedly drank Krathom regularly and took other illicit substances, said Chaichana.
