Heartbreak leads to drink driving arrest of former Buriram monk

Police charged a former Thai monk with drink driving after he was found sleeping with four cases of beer in a sedan car at Pa Kluay Intersection in the Isaan province of Buriram. The suspect claimed he drank hard because a woman tricked him into leaving his monastery before breaking his heart.

A local who stumbled upon the former monk, later identified as 54 year old Kunakorn, shared a video of him on social media, prompting officers from Laharnsai Police Station to investigate the scene. The video was shared with a caption that read…

“Urgent! Anyone who knows this monk, please come to pick him up. Please help me share this video. This ruins the Buddhist religion. I’m not sure whether he is a monk or a threat to the religion. He parked his car in the middle of the intersection. He was very drunk. Beer is spilt all over the car. Please come to pick him up.”

Following the police investigation, it was revealed that Kunakorn used to be a monk at a temple in the Nong Bunmark district in the Isaan province of Nakhon Ratchasima but he had already left the enclave.

His Toyota sedan was stuck in a hole in the road, leaving him unable to move. Monk robes, a monk’s bag, an alms bowl, and four cases of beer were found in his car.

Kunakorn revealed to officers that he had stayed at the temple for two years until he met a 49 year old woman. Even though she looked boyish, she expressed her interest in him. They became close after talking for a while, and the woman urged him to leave the monkhood to live with her.

Kunakorn said he initially did not dare to do so because he did not have a job. However, the woman frequently came to the temple and encouraged him to leave the monkhood, so he did.

Kunakorn explained that he went straight to the woman’s home in the Isaan province of Buriram after leaving the monkhood. Unexpectedly, the woman rejected his advances and chased him away from her home.

Kunakorn decided to drive to his home province, Sisaket and invested all of his money in beer. He bought four cases of beer and drank them while driving until he got lost and stuck in the hole. He did not know what to do, so he continued drinking until he fell asleep.

Kunakorn had 75 milligrammes percent of alcohol in his system, so he was charged with drunk driving, but the details of the punishment have not been made public.