Angry villagers demand justice in stabbing case

CHALONG: Nearly 100 villagers joined a heated protest yesterday evening at the Chalong Police Station to demand justice for a villager stabbed to death a week earlier. The case concerns 23-year-old Supradit “Ad” Boonyawat, who was stabbed to death during a brawl in a karaoke restaurant in Karon on September 9. The brawl allegedly involved eight people, including the owner of the restaurant, who is also a police officer. Police declined to release the name of the policeman, but Pol Lt Col Chalit Kaewyarat, Deputy Superintendent of the station, said that the officer had since been transferred to a police station in Thab-pud district in Phang Nga. Angry that no arrests had been made yet, the villagers accused the police of dragging their feet in order to protect one of their own. Chalong police, however, denied the accusation. Lt Col Chalit told the protesters, “We are not going to protect any suspect just because he is a police officer. “We have to follow set procedures, which in this case involve, first, issuing summonses to the suspects. If the suspects do not turn up by the date shown on the summonses, the next step will be to issue warrants for their arrests.” Lt Col Chalit then showed the protesters copies of the summonses sent to the suspects. The crowd broke up after agreeing to wait until the deadline for the suspects to report to the police station has expired.