Gay cook suicides over missing fiancé

PHUKET TOWN: In the third suicide reported in Phuket within a week, heartbroken Jitpanu Pattana-anusorn, a 26-year-old cook at the Boonlert Beer Garden on Chana Charoen Rd, committed suicide on Tuesday because, police surmised, he had been abandoned by his gay lover. Pol Capt Anukul Nookate of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that he received a call from the Wachira Phuket Hospital after the Kusornlatham Foundation delivered the body of a man who had hanged himself. The body of the victim, who had been dead for less than an hour, had a bloody ligature mark around the neck and five cuts on the left wrist. Capt Anukul said, “Jitpanu’s roommate found him in their room at the Thavorn Hotel’s staff house on Rassada Rd. When we went to the room, we found a white wedding dress hung on the wall, and a towel tied to a crossbeam. “On the bed, we also found a letter, which we assume Jitpanu wrote. The letter was addressed to his friends and relatives and said that he no longer wanted to live. It also asked that he be clothed in the wedding dress when placed in his coffin.” One of Jitpanu’s friends told the police that the dead man was gay, and had had a lover who had promised to marry him, but who had not been seen since last month. Police said that, from the evidence gathered, they believe that Jitpanu had hanged himself because he was heartbroken. Jitpanu’s body and the wedding dress were collected by relatives and taken to Phang Nga for cremation.