Home security of the second kind

PATTAYA: A group of five ladyboys took home security into their own hands in the early hours of August 25, beating senseless a drunken teenage punk who broke into their apartment and stole 2,000 baht from their communal piggy bank. The story, reported by Banglamung Police Inspector Pol Lt Col Sutham Chaosrithong, made national news the next morning. The five triumphant “ladies of the second kind” got their 15 minutes of fame, while 27-year-old cat burglar Konchai Junwirote of Udon Thani was paraded beaten and disgraced before the national news media. According to the report, 21-year-old Thai ladyboy Wirote “Nong Rose” Jitkhode (whose names means “light of the ancestral spirit”) rented a room for herself and four ladyboy friends on the third floor of Palai Apartments on Soi PK, off Third Rd in South Pattaya. After the bar closed down at 2 am on the evening of August 24, four of the ladyboys, all employed as dancers at an unnamed a-go-go bar, went out looking for a little fun; the fifth, 22-year-old Samraan “Nong Tum” (surname not reported), went home to get some beauty sleep. When she reached the flat, however, she found the door open and a small candle burning near the group’s collection of stuffed dolls. The quick-witted Nong Tum immediately called her four flatmates. Aware that another flatful of ladyboys living on the fourth floor had been victims of a similar, unsolved break-in two months before, the four raced home. Upon arrival, they saw that the room had been searched and their communal piggy smashed. Its contents were missing. As luck would have it, another group of ladyboys living in the building called to them. They had spotted the likely thief: a young man, apparently high on drugs, who had sneaked into a storage room in the apartment block to count up some money – and he was still there! Springing into action, all five beautiful boxers raced to the store-room, where they grabbed the man, put him in a headlock and gave him a savage beating that left him unconscious, blood streaming from his mouth. Police arrived soon after, saving Konchai from his attackers and placing him in custody. He later admitted to the theft, telling police he was unemployed, broke and behind on motorcycle payments. To rectify his financial situation, he explained, he bucked up his courage by getting drunk, then prowled the area breaking into unoccupied flats, using a screwdriver, needle-nosed pliers and a large selection of skeleton keys. All those items were collected as evidence in the case, along with the candle he had used to illuminate the room. Konchai, who confessed to several other break-ins in the area, was charged with multiple counts of burglary.