Trio of transgressors

Three monks welcomed the end of Buddhist Lent, called Ork Pansa, with an over-indulgence in bad habits this year: one crashed his pickup drunk-driving, one forced himself on a young woman, and another shot and killed a fellow monk… all on the nights of October 7 and 8. The first, a monk from Buri Ram, celebrated the end of Lent by drinking and driving to see his girlfriend in Nondang District. He ended his festivities in hospital after crashing his pickup into trees while fleeing from a police checkpoint. Pol Lt Praman Junpakwan, duty officer of Laharnsai Police Station in Buri Ram, and his Superintendent, Pol Col Prung Nakapok, arrived at the scene to find a gray Isuzu pickup that had crashed into trees about 500 meters from the Ban Kongmaidang police checkpoint. The front of the truck was crumpled and the driver still stuck inside. His body was covered in blood, his face and lips had been smashed on the steering wheel, several of his teeth were broken and his right leg was seriously injured. Police at the checkpoint said they flagged the truck to pull over, but the driver ignored them and sped off. Officers saw that the driver was wearing a monk’s robe and gave chase. The driver lost control on a curve and careened off the road. A search inside the truck turned up the monk’s student ID card from a Buddhist university, a check for a large amount of money and a teen romance novel. After questioning by police, the driver confessed that after Buddhist Lent ended, he had a few beers and decided to drive to see his girlfriend, but he panicked when he saw the police checkpoint and tried to drive away. About 2 am the next day, Pol Lt Col Atikom Janin of Saraburi province, responded to a report that a girl’s cries for help were heard coming from inside a monk’s room at Wat Phuttanikom. Police arrived at the wat and heard a girl screaming for help inside the room of Suttichai Jankeuw, a 23-year-old monk, who was with another man named only as “Sayan”; and a young woman. The girl explained that she had helped with a funeral held earlier at the wat, but could not go home after the ceremony because it started to rain. Sayan, whom she knew, suggested she stay in the monk’s room until the rain stopped, she said, but once she was in the room the monk locked the door. He told her that he was afraid that they would get wet. The girl said that Sayan told her to take off her clothes so they could dry. Then Sayan and the monk repeatedly attacked her and tried to undress her, she said, but she kept fighting them and screaming for help.