A SWISS man who punched a Thai robber to death at his house in Udon Thani province last night surrendered to police and now faces charges of bodily harming another person leading to death, Sanook.com said today (Oct. 3).
At around midnight last night Pol.Lt. Col. Sukin Rachankaew, deputy chief for investigation at Na Kha station, Mueang Udon Thani, was notified of a man being physically attacked and killed at a house in Kut Sa sub-district and quickly went there with another policeman, a doctor from Udon Thani Hospital and rescuers from Promotion of Dharma Foundation
At the single-storey cement house a kilometre away from the village they found the body of Mr. Sathien Chantrakantri, 53, a native of this province lying on his back in the open kitchen at the rear with his face badly bruised and his arms and legs tied with ropes.
They quickly sent the body to the hospital for autopsy.
The house owner, Mr. Rodolph Joseph, 63, from Switzerland, was waiting there to surrender.
He told police that he punched Sathien till he passed out but did not intend to kill him. It was around 10.30 p.m. when the robber climbed over the concrete fence and barged into the kitchen where he was sitting at a table drinking coffee and pointed a pistol at him as he yelled “money, money.”
At that time his wife, Mrs Lak, had gone to bed after returning from drinking with some friends.
Joseph added that he walked towards the robber and threw him to the ground and grabbed the pistol which he flung into a pond next to the house. He then punched and kicked him till he became unconscious. After that he tied up his hands and legs because he was afraid he might get up and hurt him.
He then woke up his wife who notified the village headman but when the latter came over he found that the robber was already dead.
Mrs. Lak said she has been married to Joseph, a retired architect, for around 10 years and he had a large pension for them to live on.
She added that she liked to socialise and frequently drank with various friends at their house. Two years ago the deceased robber, who is a farmer and an odd job man, invited her and some friends to drink at his house.
After that he started calling her regularly but she was not interested in him.
At 11 a.m. today Pol. Maj. Gen Phisanu Unhaseri, commander of Udon Thani provincial police, and his team brought Joseph back to his house for crime reenactment but other local people did not come around to witness it as the house is far from the village.
Pol. Maj. Gen Phisanu said litigation will be split into two parts with first being the deceased man, armed with.38 caliber pistol that had 5 bullets in it, breaking and entering the house and demanding money.
In the second case Joseph is being charged with “bodily harming another person leading to his death.”
However Pol. Maj. Gen. Phisanu police would be fair to both sides.
CAPTION:
Rudolph Joseph reenacting the killing of the robber in his kitchen last night. Photos: Sanook.com
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