Pregnant woman dead, husband wounded over Ratchaburi land dispute

A pregnant woman in the western Ratchaburi province, west of Bangkok, was shot and killed yesterday, and her husband seriously wounded. Police there say a 70 year old man has turned himself in for the crime, claiming a land dispute drove him to open fire on their car.

Krit Thanathavornrit surrendered to authorities late last night and handed over the .38 calibre pistol he allegedly used in the fatal shooting to the station chief. The shooting happened in broad daylight in tambon Yang Hak of Pak Tho. He was taken for a crime re-enactment today.

After being alerted at around 2:30pm, police and rescue workers arrived on the scene to find a white Honda Jazz lying in a ditch at a guava plantation. The driver, 31 year old Pitak Sukmak of the Ratchaburi’s main city district, suffered gunshot wounds to his neck and his left hand. His wife 28 year old Jindarak Khunnut, who was 4 months pregnant, was shot dead in the front passenger seat. She had 3 gunshot wounds, to her head, left ear and left arm.

Police immediately launched a manhunt for the gunman, who had fled in a Honda with Nonthaburi licence plates. Krit later contacted police and arranged to surrender. Officers say he confessed to shooting the couple in a fit of rage over a land dispute. He told police that he had bought a plot of land from Jindarak’s mother and built a house on the site. Jindarak, who did not want her mother to sell the plot, filed a complaint, and this led to a dispute.

Krit says he was with a worker who was building a gate at the entrance of his property when the couple arrived in their car. A quarrel broke out, during which he pulled a .38 pistol and fired on the car.

He claims he didn’t know whether the bullets hit anyone. The driver sped off but the car rammed into the fence of a nearby house, about 100 metres from the scene of the shooting, and plunged into a ditch. After seeing what happened, Krit told police, he decided to flee in his car, but later turned himself in.

Pitak, who is being treated at Ratchaburi Hospital, is reportedly declared out of danger.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post