Two die in separate suicides

PHUKET: A 32-year-old katoey (transsexual), Patcha Jitbantad from Bangkok, jumped to his death from the top floor of the Sky Condo in Patong on July 15. A suicide note found in his apartment stated that he was depressed because he was suffering from AIDS. Pol Lt Col Saguan Maungtam of the Kathu Police Station said that at 5:10 am the police received a call from a guard at the Sky Condo, reporting that someone had jumped from the building. When police reached the scene, they found the badly damaged body of a man, later identified as Patcha. The victim, who lived on the condo’s second floor but jumped from the seventh floor, was found lying face down, covered in blood. He had sustained massive injuries to the head, and his left arm and leg were shattered. Relatives took the body to Wat Laempetch in Patong Beach. Earlier the same day, Phuket Town police had a suicide of their own to deal with after residents of Saphan Hin found a body in Klong Koh Pee, behind the Saphan Hin sports center. According to police, the dead man was identified as 35-year-old Somyot Saekoe. Although there was no suicide note, police say the man was believed to have committed suicide because he was having financial problems. He was also understood to be worried about losing his job because many colleagues in the same company had recently been laid off. Somyot’s body was taken to the Wachira Hospital morgue to await collection by relatives.