New Year goes off with a final bang

A NEW Year’s Eve celebration went horribly wrong for one family on Koh Samet after a woman shot three bullets into the air to mark the start of 2012.

As Rampha Suphasi, 48, lowered her gun it accidentally discharged again, hitting her husband Thanakit Suphasi in the chest.

Mr Thanakit, also 48, promptly fell down dead.

Police arrived at the scene, the family’s Saengthian Beach Resort, around 20 minutes later. They found Mr Thanakit’s body lying on the bloodied sand.

Standing nearby was Mrs Rampha, still holding the .22-caliber pistol that killed her husband. Lying nearby were four cartridges.

Mrs Rampha told police that she and her husband had eaten dinner on the beach to celebrate the arrival of New Year.

After their meal, they waited for the countdown to midnight. When the moment came, Mrs Rampha picked up her gun and shot three bullets into the sky.

Mrs Rampha told police that when she lowered the gun, it went off again, hitting her husband squarely in the chest.

Mrs Rampha insisted that it was an accident, saying the couple “had never had any arguments whatsoever”.

The police charged her with the killing and plan to investigate further to establish whether it was intentional or through negligence.

They will question the couple’s relatives to determine whether or not the husband and his self-made widow were actually were on good terms.

Police will also conduct forensic tests and examine the bullet trajectories to establish the credibility of Mrs Rampha’s story.