Man arrested for brutally assaulting victim, leading to blindness and skull injury

Police arrested one of two suspects who brutally assaulted a victim, which left him blind and with a severe skull injury. The second suspect, reported to be a youth, is on the run.

The victim, 26 year old Smith Sarapithong, filed a complaint after the incident at Bang Phli Police Station in Samut Prakan province near Bangkok on August 10. Smith informed the police that two men he did not know physically assaulted him.

According to Smith, the perpetrators assaulted him with a baseball bat until he lost consciousness in Soi Plu Charoen in the Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan province. As a result, he is now blind in his left eye and his skull is cracked.

Smith’s sister, 23 year old Amara Sithong, reported to officers that she believed that the perpetrators were the partygoers who engaged in an argument with her cousin, 22 year old Peeraphat Kaweewake. Amara said Peeraphat had a dispute with the two men at a bar nearby the scene and sought help from her.

Amara asked her brother, Smith, to check on Peeraphat at the bar. Smith rode his motorcycle to the scene to check on Peeraphat but was assaulted by the men.

Amara disclosed that the two suspects were members of a gangster group in the Bang Phli neighbourhood and were not afraid of any legal charges. The gangsters also shared a message on their Facebook accounts daring the police to arrest them.

Smith and Amara sought help to apprehend the suspects from a Thai social media influencer, Guntouch “Gun” Pongpaiboonwet. Gun followed up on the case until the first perpetrator was arrested yesterday.

Police officers yesterday arrested one of the suspects, 36 year old Thawatchai Somnuek, at his house in the Prawet district of Bangkok.

Thawatchai admitted to assaulting the man leading to him becoming blind and suffering a cracked skull. He claimed that he and the victim engaged in an argument at a restaurant before the attack. Thawatchai explained that he and another suspect followed Smith until reaching the scene in Soi Plu Charoen in the central province of Samut Prakarn, attacked the victim, and fled the scene.

Thawatchai faces six months to 10 years in prison and a fine of 10,000 to 200,000 baht for assaulting another person and leading to severe injury according to Section 297 of the Criminal Law.

However, the case is far from closed. Law enforcement officers are still on the hunt for the second suspect, described as a teenager under 18 years of age.