A cut above

CHON BURI: An enraged woman in Chon Buri’s Banglamung District cut off her partner’s penis at about 2 am on October 18, the second such incident in a month in the same province. The victim, 24-year-old furniture shop employee Songram Yospanya, explained that his long-term partner Rungnapa Pongaree, 32, felt neglected after he took on a “minor wife”. It should be noted that although the couple did not share the same last name, the victim referred to Rungnapa as his “mia”, or wife, indicating that although they may not have been legally married, she did have certain proprietary rights. “We had a big argument in August, and she left home,” he explained. “So, I got a new girlfriend named ‘Mine’, who is 20 years old. I don’t know her last name. On October 16, however, my wife returned home, so I sent Mine away to live somewhere else,” he said. Good “make-up sex” has been known to heal over some of the harshest words, grossest infidelities and most unfortunate misunderstandings between lovers, but on the night of October 17, before the couple slept, there apparently was none. It also appears that Songram had no intention of breaking off his relationship with Mine, who was some 12 years younger than Rungnapa. “‘If I can’t have it, then nobody else can either,’she warned me before we went to sleep,” said Songram. “But I paid her comment no mind.” He should have, for he was awoken at about 2 am by a “feeling of pain between his legs” to find a smiling Rungnapa standing above him with a bloody 18-centimeter knife. She later packed some clothes and made her getaway. For most men, how they would react to having their penis cut off remains – quite thankfully – in the realm of theory. But most probably wouldn’t behave in quite the same way as young Songram, who neither screamed out in pain nor called for help. He simply stayed in bed, feeling ashamed. There he remained until a friend stopped by after dawn the following morning and helped him to the Banglamung Hospital. Unfortunately, they forgot to take the severed organ with them. Doctors from the hospital later went to Songram’s home to retrieve the penis, while Songram was rushed to Chon Buri Hospital. Doctors there reattached the penis, but said there was only a 50:50 chance that the surgery would be effective in the long term, because the long delay in getting Songram and his penis to hospital had allowed cell necrosis to set in. “Whether or not I have a penis is up to fate. It [the penis] caused me a lot of suffering and led to the breakup of my family,” said K. Songram. Police investigators collected evidence, including Rungnapa’s Social Security card, at the scene of the crime and said they would use it it in their investigation. Her home province was reported as Yasothorn.