A mentally disturbed man was beaten to death early yesterday after he destroyed a much revered Brahman statue at the Erawan Shrine -- one of Bangkok's most popular places of worship, police and eyewitnesses said.
Thanakorn Pakdeepol, 27, was found dead in a pool of blood outside the shrine shortly after he attacked the sacred image at 1am, police said. He was beaten to death with a steel bar.
"I saw him climb over the fence and use a hammer to smash the statute," said Wandee Vichai, 42, a vendor who was one of the few eyewitnesses to the incident.
PHOTO: EPA
"I started to scream and some trash collectors came out and chased after the man. When I caught up with them he was lying dead on the pavement," Wandee said.
Lumpinee Police Colonel Supisarn PakdeeNarunart said two suspects had been arrested for Thanakorn's slaying.
The victim's father Saiyan Pakdeepol said his son had suffered from mental illness for several years and was nervous and depressed on Monday, one of Bangkok's hottest days so far this season with temperatures reaching 39oC.
Saiyan said his son had a breakdown and ran out of the house at midnight.
The incident, coming at a time of great political upheaval in Thailand, was immediately hailed by some as an inauspicious sign for embattled Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
"This is a very unlucky omen, especially since the perpetrator was crazy and was killed after committing the sacrilege," said Samridh Kaokrieng, a well-known astrologer who once served as the prime minister's private fortune teller.
"This is a sign that if the prime minister doesn't resign the country must sacrifice blood," Samridh said.
The fortune teller recently lost his job with Thaksin after he informed the premier that the stars were not in his favor and he should step down.
Mass protests calling for the prime minister's resignation have been escalating in the capital since Jan. 23, when Thaksin's family sold off their 49 percent stake in Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings, an investment arm of the Singapore government.
The US$1.9 billion sale has sparked a nationalistic backlash among many Thais who have criticized the premier for handing over sensitive sectors to a foreign firm.
Shin Corp holds government-granted concessions to run Thailand's largest mobile phone service, the national satellite network, a TV station, an Internet service and a no-frills airline.
The Erawan Shine stands next to the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in central Bangkok. The shrine was built in 1956, one year after the original government-owned Erawan Hotel was opened as one of the capital's first international-class establishments.
Rear Admiral Luang Suwichanphaet, a specialist in astrology, advised the hotel management to construct the shrine with the Thao Maha Brahma statue, also known as Phra Prom, on the corner of its property to ensure good fortune.
The Erawan Hotel was bought by the Hyatt hotel group about 14 years ago.
The shrine is a popular place of worship for Buddhists and Hindus from Thailand and abroad, especially among tourists from Hong Kong and Singapore.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home