Politician’s son reports to police

PHUKET TOWN: Accompanied by his politician father, Pol Sub Lt Wanchalerm Yoobumroong came to Phuket last Wednesday to visit the Phuket Provincial Attorney’s Office in connection with an incident at the Alien Pub here three years ago. It is alleged that Sub Lt Wanchalerm and some friends got into a fight with a group of teenagers. According to some witnesses, Sub Lt Wanchalerm pulled out a pistol and started firing, resulting in one person being injured. In November last year, Sub Lt Wanchalerm was charged by the Phuket Town police with bodily assault and illegal possession of a firearm. He reported to police in the same month, and was released after his father, Pol Capt Chalerm Yoobumroong, the deputy leader of the New Aspiration Party, agreed to act as guarantor. After Sub Lt Wanchalerm was charged, the case was taken over and investigated by officers from the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok. Their investigation has just been completed. “The case file came down from Bangkok last week, at the same time as Sub Lt Wanchalerm,” said Kritsada Suebpong, acting attorney general of the Phuket Provincial Attorney’s Office. “But then we had to send it to Surat Thani for the Attorney’s Office for District 8 to examine it. “It will come back to us next week. The file is very thick; it is going to take at least two months for my office to go through it thoroughly. One problem is the witnesses – there are 40 or 50 of them and some of them have changed their stories,” he added. After he has finished studying the case, K. Kritsada will make a recommendation to the District 8 Attorney’s Office as to whether the charges against Sub Lt Wanchalerm should be pursued or dropped. “The final decision is up to the District 8 Office,” he explained.