PUBLISHED: 22 Jan 2025 at 14:06
Authorities took a road-rage car accused of intentionally crashing into and killing a motorcycle shipping horse to Bangkok South Criminal Court on Wednesday to expand his confinement, and opposed loan.
Seree Srettheenamwong, 31, was escorted from Lumpini police station to the judge. He refused to answer reporters ‘ questions about his motive for the attack and whether he wanted to apologise to the 49-year-old victim’s family. He merely bent his mind, tears rolling down his cheeks.
When getting into a police car, the assume sat with his head down, shaking it when asked by reporters whether the victim had provoked him and whether he wanted to say anything to the family of the deceased.
Mr Seree, the brother of a gown shop owner in Sukhumvit Soi 7/1, was arrested after he reportedly intentionally crashed his car into supply horse Ritthisak Prakuptanont’s motorcycles on Sukhumvit Road in Watthana city of Bangkok on Tuesday evening.
Pol Maj Gen Witthawat Shinkham, commander of Metropolitan Police Division ( MPD ) 5, said they initially pressed two counts against Mr Ritthisak- premeditated murder and reckless driving causing death.
Investigators opposed bail on the grounds the offence carried a severe penalty and he posed a flight risk, the MPD 5 chief said.
During questioning, Mr Seree denied all charges and said he would testify only in court.
According to a police investigators and witness accounts it was a road rage incident. The suspect and the delivery rider had first quarrelled near Asoke intersection and this continued on to Sukhumvit Soi 10, where Ritthisak manoeuvred his bike in front of Mr Seree’s car and forced it to stop. He demanded the suspect get out of the car to discuss damage caused to his bike.
The suspect refused and tried to drive away, and the motorcyclist struck the driver’s side window with his hand. Mr Seree got out of his car and attacked the rider. When Ritthisak tried to flee, Mr Seree allegedly drove after him to Sukhumvit Soi 8 and deliberately crashed his car into the bike.
Investors said the suspect was hot-tempered but had no record of treatment for any illness. There were no traces of illegal drugs or alcohol in his body.
The victim’s tearful wife, Saijai Tamboon, said she would take his body from King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital’s Institute of Forensic Medicine on Wednesday for funeral rites at Wat Klong Toey Nai.
Relatives of the suspect told her through police that they would cover the costs of the funeral rites, she said. Compensation had not yet been discussed.
The court was still considering the case.