27 year old Sawitree Phromwong had ended her relationship with 31 year old Ek Udom, a convicted criminal who had just served one year from drug offences. A nationwide manhunt is being now conducted by Thai police to arrest the man after he murdered her with a shotgun on Thursday last having surprised the woman at a local market with her new boyfriend. The man has a long criminal history including violence and the use of narcotics.
A 27 year old Thai woman was murdered on Thursday by her scorned ex lover after he confronted the woman and her new boyfriend at a shopping market in eastern Chaing Rai. It followed weeks of online media exchanges on the LINE app between the pair until finally, the jealousy of the man exploded into the real world taking the woman’s life. A week earlier, the body of another murdered Thai woman was found in a newly rented room in Nong Bua Lamphu province in Thailand’s northeast. It is most likely another Thai tale of two being company and three becoming a crowd. The grim toll of violence against Thai women perpetrated by jilted and jealous ex lovers continues without abate. It is the product of complex cultural factors which for now can only be examined and reported on.
Thai police in Chiang Rai on Thursday sought an arrest warrant for a Chiang Mai man living in the province after he is believed to have murdered his ex girlfriend while she visited a popular market with her new lover.
It is another story in Thailand’s epidemic of violence against women. The latest victim was a 27 year old Chiang Rai woman, Sawitree Phromwong. The shocking attack occurred on Thursday last, June 13th, when the Thai woman, sitting in the back of her boyfriend’s car, was shot by her ex lover.
Happy visit to a local market ends in murder in Chiang Rai after ex boyfriend turns up
It is understood, from preliminary investigation and information released by the Thai police in Chiang Rai, that the couple including Ms Phromwong and her existing boyfriend were visiting Pa Sak market in Chiang Rai. The couple had parked their Honda car near the market at the front of the Community Hospital.
Argument online using the LINE app saw ex girlfriend trade barbs with her ex boyfriend consumed with jealousy and rage
The area is in the Thoeng District of eastern Chiang Rai. Thai police understand that the woman had been engaged in an online argument with her ex boyfriend named as 31 year old Mr Ek Udom. Mr Udom is well known to the police in Chiang Rai and has a long criminal history. It is reported that Mr Ek had been engaged in threatening behavior towards the Thai woman on social media particularly using the LINE app. Both parties, in fact, had traded insults as the young Thai woman insisted that her relationship with her ex boyfriend was over. Apparently, Mr Ek was consumed with jealousy because his ex girlfriend had moved on to find another man.
Sudden arrival of ex boyfriend in the real world
On Thursday last, as Ms Sawitree Phromwong and her new boyfriend, 30 year old Mr Phoomphol Suriya, were heading back to their car at the market, Mr Ek Udom arrived suddenly at the scene in his vehicle. Mr Ek is reported to be originally from Chiang Mai province but lives in Chiang Rai. An argument between the parties ensued and the ex boyfriend drove away in a temper, rejected again.
Ex boyfriend came back to the scene with a long shotgun and did not flinch from using it
However, it was not long before the 31 year man reappeared at the scene. He found his ex girlfriend, Ms Sawitree, sitting in the back of her new boyfriends car. The jilted lover had brought with him a long shotgun which he used to fire a round through the back, right hand window of the Honda car. He hit his ex girlfriend in the side of the head. The ex boyfriend, now a killer, then got back into his car and fled the scene.
Police and emergency services quickly at the scene
Thai police and emergency services arrived shortly after. The police presence was led by Police Colonel Thanachai Yoschusakul who is the Director of Tengkham police station. Ms Sawitree’s boyfriend was waiting for them at his girlfriend’s side. After emergency services tended to the young Thai woman, she was removed from the scene for hospital but died en route from her head injury. Her 30 year old boyfriend, Mr Phoomphol Suriya, briefed Thai police on the background to the affair and the events that had led to the fatal shooting.
Nationwide manhunt for ex boyfriend with an extensive criminal history now including murder
Sawitree’s ex boyfriend, Ek Udom, had a long history of criminal convictions. It appears that the 31 year old had just been released from prison where he had served a 1 year sentence for drug offences. The Thai man also had a history of violence and the use of narcotics. He is now wanted on murder charges in relation to the death of his ex girlfriend.
Thai police have issued a nationwide warrant for his arrest and a manhunt is underway to track him down.
Thai woman found dead in a pool of blood in Nong Bua Lamphu province days earlier
A week earlier, on Sunday June 9th, Thai police in Nong Bua Lamphu province were called to the Bua Lamphu town area where a dead Thai woman was found by her landlady at 9 am that morning. The victim was found in a pool of blood having been stabbed multiple times in the neck. The woman was attired in her pyjamas as if getting ready for bed.
Murdered woman orginally from Sakon Nakhon also in Thailand’s northeast region
The murdered woman was named as 32 years old Kittiporn Sompan reportedly from Sakon Nakhon province also in Thailand’s northeast region. The Thai woman had only rented the room in which she was staying, approximately one week earlier from the landlady on Saturday June 1st. The good hearted landlady, 74 year old Thongnak Suriyasing, had agreed a rate of ฿1,200 per month and even allowed the woman to move in without paying money upfront.
Visited by a boyfriend regularly in the first week
In the first week, the Thai woman had been visited on numerous occasions by a Thai man who said he hailed from the Si Bun Rueang district in the southwestern part of the province. The landlady and others assumed this to be the murdered woman’s husband or boyfriend. However, one week after the women moved in, another man showed up with a little boy in tow. The boy was reported to be nine years old and the man said he was from Ratchaburi province near Bangkok in central Thailand. He introduced himself to the puzzled landlady as the Thai woman’s husband. He also paid ฿500 towards the rent on the room.
Landlady looking for rent made a grim discovery
This prompted the landlady, Ms Thongnak, to return on Sunday the 9th of June in the morning. The older woman was looking forward to being paid the full rent due. On getting no response from knocking at the door to the one room apartment, she opened it with her own key only to find the younger woman dead on the ground.
Police seek the Thai woman’s husband
Police investigating the murder were anxious to track down the man who claimed to be Ms Kittiporn’s husband the day before. The tenant in the room adjacent to the murdered woman told police that she heard nothing out of the ordinary on the previous night.
A medical examiner, brought in by investigating police, suggested that the woman had been dead for 8 to 12 hours. Another neighbour in the area told Thai police that she had seen the Thai woman’s boyfriend from Si Bun Rueang leave the scene at approximately 9.40 pm the evening before.
