Daughter warned of suicide before family found poisoned, children hanged

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: The former wife of a man who was found dead with four members of his family in a rented house in Bangkok’s Thon Buri district on New Year’s Eve told police yesterday that her late daughter had asked her for 20,000 baht a month ago.

As the mother was unable to find the money, the teenager reportedly threatened that the entire family would commit suicide, she said.

Her former husband and two children were found hanging in the house, while her mother-in-law and sister-in-law were found dead on the ground floor.

Lt Colonel Thepwisit Phokengrit, deputy superintendent of Bang Yi Reu Police Sation, said Uraiwan Sermsak, 53 – the former wife of Anant Jarupankit, 64, and mother of Suwantip, 16, and Abhisit, 14 – said she and her husband had split up eight years ago. After the split, she took a job in the Saphan Mai area and began sending 900 baht a week to support the two children, she said.

The grief-stricken woman said her daughter had called her in November asking for 20,000 baht to cover household expenses, but when Uraiwan said she didn’t have the money, the teenager responded by saying they would all kill themselves.

The police will also check to see if the girl had been forced by her father to demand the money, or if she had initiated this herself, Thepwisit said.

He also said that about a year ago, Anant had reportedly called his younger brother to ask for 20,000 baht to 30,000 baht to cover his household expenses several times, and when the brother refused, Anant would threaten him with family suicide.

Uraiwan and relatives went to collect the bodies at General Police Hospital for funeral rites at Wat Lak Si.

Thepwisit said police believed the motive might be stress over financial woes and that they had chosen New Year’s Eve for the sake of publicity. He said police had yet to identify who added poison to the soft drinks consumed by the family members, and hanged the three. Forensic test results should come out in 15 days.

Col Thaprawit Inthachai, Bang Yi Reu superintendent, said police would interview neighbors and look for more leads at the scene. Police found a mobile phone, believed to be owned by Abhisit, in a bedroom on the second floor and some school papers.

Police suspect a family member is behind the deaths as there are no signs of fighting or ransacking.

A police spokesman said officers were waiting for a toxicology report conducted on Anant’s mother and sister to see if they were poisoned and if so, what with.

— Phuket Gazette Editors