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Published on August 14, 2007

Sucheera Insuwan said she had not been contacted by Kan-anek Pachimsawas, the father of murder suspect Kanpitak, or his divorced wife Sawinee following the funeral of her mother, Saichol Luangsaeng.

She said she expected to meet with the family tomorrow after giving them details of the damages claim.

"If my family is happy with what they pay then everything will be finished, as I have no legal knowledge and our family has suffered enough," she said.

Sucheera thought it would be an injustice if Kanpitak escaped criminal liability for the incident. It was likely, she said, his family would seek to have him declared legally incompetent in order to gain sympathy from the court and escape the murder charge.

"I have lost my mother as a result of somebody's thoughtless act. If he escapes justice I think it would be unfair to me. I would like to call on the judges to fully exercise their judgement in the most precise way they can," she added.

Hathaithip Khrutthakhajorn, who was injured in the incident, said the lawyer for the Pachimsawas family had postponed scheduled appointments with her to settle the payment of damages several times.

"It is quite clear he did everything because of his aggressiveness. I would also like to blame his parents for letting him drive, despite knowing that he was mentally sick," she said.

In the July 4 incident, a Mercedes Benz was slammed into a crowd of people who had just been ordered to alight from a bus. This followed an accident between the bus and the car and an altercation between the two drivers.

The Pachimsawas family claimed Kanpitak, who was identified by witnesses as the Benz driver, suffered from epilepsy and that he had been treated at a mental hospital this year.

Lt-Colonel Yannawut Liamkaew of Thong Lor police station said he would next week interview a psychiatrist who had treated Kanpitak. The psychiatrist had recently returned to Thailand from an overseas trip.

More than 20 witnesses to the incident have been interviewed.

The officer said he was doing his job professionally and neutrally, and although he sympathised with both parties in the case, it was up to the court to rule on whether Kanpitak's state of mind would comply with legal conditions that exempt him from criminal liability.

Sawinee pleaded for sympathy for her family, saying Kanpitak had dropped all of his university courses as he was suffering from stress and guilt. She said Kanpitak, also known as Ham, had offered to meet with those injured by his actions but they and their relatives had turned him down.

"They might not yet be ready to meet or talk with Ham," she said.

The former beauty queen said she had also been worried about Bambi, Kanpitak's younger sister who was present during the incident, because she was likely to suffer from stress if she heard anything bad about Kanpitak and it would affect her studies.

Sawinee said she had constantly been in touch with the injured victims to offer help, and that her family had not tried to interfere with the police investigation.

Mayuree Sukyingcharoenwong

The Nation