Police call for officer to turn himself in

PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town Police have filed murder charges against a Kathu Police Station officer for the murder of his wife. The officer is expected to turn himself in soon. The killing occurred on March 6, apparently following a dispute over underground lottery winnings. The victim, 49-year-old Bang-on Chookam of Surat Thani, had been living with her husband, Pol S/Sgt Maj Lapa Thanarat of the Kathu Police, in their rented home in Rungsarit Village, Tambon Rassada, for about three years. Orachorn Sae-ong, 16, the victim’s daughter from a previous marriage, told police that on March 6 she first heard her mother and step-father arguing and then witnessed Sgt Maj Lapa shoot her mother in the stomach. Upon arrival, police found K. Bang-on’s body, dead from a single 11 mm bullet wound to the stomach. A large number of underground lottery betting slips were also found. A neighbor told the Gazette that this was not the first time the couple had fought. Sgt Maj Lapa, who fled the scene, contacted the police through relatives this morning and is expected to surrender soon. The body of K. Bang-on was sent to Surat Thani. Phuket Town Police superintendant Pol Col Paween Pongsirin told the Gazette, “I won’t know the real motive for the murder until the suspect turns himself in for questioning. I have been told that he suffers from a nervous condition.”