On the night of the 27th February police rushed to Koolpunt Ville 9 housing project to find a man had been shot dead.
According to residents, Uten Tuihuatung, 68, lived in the compound and was well known to the security guards who would wave at him as he came and went every day. However on the night in question he was allegedly very drunk and drove his vehicle into two barriers by the security guard’s gates.
Jatupon Aram, 38, was tasked with following Uten to his house to get his phone information so that they could contact him at a later date to collect money for damages done to the gates.
As Jatupon arrived at Uten’s house and asked for information, Uten became belligerent and said that he refused to pay. He then got a knife and began to chase Jatupon, who then drove away back to the security post.
Uten, however, had apparently gone back into his house, grabbed his gun, got onto a motorbike and followed Jatupon, eventually the two getting into a scuffle. Uten claims that the gun went off accidentally in the scuffle, and that he had no intention of shooting Jatupon. However, two bullets entered Jatupon, one in the head and one in the chest, killing him instantly.
This morning, family and friends of Jatupon, including his 58 year old father were at the Hang Dong police station when they saw Uten.
Jatupon’s father rushed Uten, along with some relatives, attempting to beat him up and police had to rush Uten back into a cell to avoid violence.
“My son was doing his duty,” said Chamriang, Jatupon’s father. “He only went to [Uten’s] house because that was a routine duty, never imagining that something so tragic would happen.” He then went on to say that he would see Uten punished to the full extent of the law.
Uten has not been given bail and has been remanded for murder.
He claims that the gun went off by accident.
Another security guard at Koolpunt 9 told CityNews that Uten had always been pleasant to the guards, each waving at one another daily. He said that on the night in question, Uten was so drunk that he couldn’t even speak. He drove straight into the sensor post at the back entrance to the village, causing a guard to call ahead to warn the second guard post where Jatupon was, alerting them to Uten’s behaviour. On arrival at the second guard post Uten also rammed it and broke the barrier before heading to his house.