Fisherman witnesses colleague’s murder

PHUKET TOWN: A Thai fisherman watched as a Burmese man who worked on the same boat was stabbed to death at Rassada Port in the early hours of Sunday. Pol Maj Pissanu Poonwong, of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette yesterday that the witness, who works on the fishing boat “Yod Duangporn”, called the police after seeing his co-worker murdered at 12:30 am on Sunday. Officers arrived at the port to find that the dead man, a 28-year-old Burmese Mon known only as “M”, had suffered 13 stab wounds to his upper chest and stomach. The witness told police that he earlier saw M walking along the quay with a group of men who also worked on fishing boats. One of the men, who had his arm around M’s shoulders in a friendly manner, took what appeared to be a sharpened piece of steel reinforcing bar from behind his back and repeatedly stabbed M while the others looked on. The man ended his attack only when M fell on the ground, then fled with his companions. Maj Pissanu said that police believe M was murdered because he had somehow offended the group on their way back from having drinks together.