Music Festival Vendors Stabbed in Drunken Beef

March 22, 2013

Two adult men and a teen boy were beaten and stabbed on Pattaya Beach in the early morning hours prior to the Pattaya Music Festival. The victims had set up a vendor’s tent to sell dolls. But while drinking on the beach behind their tent, they got into a fight with a nearby group of drinkers who used weapons.

PATTAYA – March 22, 201 [PDN]; at 4:30 a.m., a report of gang of teenagers beating a group of vendors on the beach and injuring several people was received by Pol. Capt. Seksak Arthornkijjawat, Deputy Inspector, Pattaya police station, Chonburi province. He rushed to the scene with the rescue officers of Sawangboribul Pattaya foundation to assist the injured.

The incident occurred at Soi 13/3 on the side of Pattaya Beach Road. When officers arrived at the incident, they found three injured victims.

The first victim was Mr. Sakthawee Haraphan, age 30, from Tambon Nong Preu. He had a head wound from being hacked by a knife and was bleeding a lot. There were also the scratches and bruises on his face from being beaten.

The second injured victim was Mr. Aekkaphong Haraphan, age 20, the younger brother of Mr. Sakthawee. He had been stabbed in his back and had a severe head injury. The third injured victim was “Mr. Phol” (alias), age 15. He suffered serious bruises on his face from being beaten. The rescue officers performed first aid for all of the injured.

During questioning, Mr. Sakthawee said before fight occurred, he had brought dolls to set up in a vendor’s tent to prepare for selling at the Pattaya Music Festival 2013 that was opening the next evening.

Mr. Sakthawee’s younger friends were helping him set up the dolls. When they finished arranging the dolls, they sat on the beach behind their tent to drink liquor. But they later got into a quarrel with a gang of more than 10 local teenagers, who were sitting nearby them on the beach and also drinking liquor.

The gang of teenagers, which included children and adults, attacked the vendors with many weapons such as a long knife, a sharp iron, bottles of liquor, and sticks of hard wood to beat and trample them.

Mr. Sakthawee and his friends tried to fight, but they could not fight against them because they didn’t have any weapons. So he and his young friends were hacked by knife and trampled by the gang of teenagers until they got injured. Then they tried to ran away to ask for assistance from the local people to notify the police.

After being notified of the brawl, the police followed up to arrest one of the troublemakers, identified as Mr. Moradok Jongphonkarn or James, age 17. Officers seized a sharp iron from him. During questioning, Mr. Moradok confessed that he really had quarreled with the group of injured vendors.

But Mr. Moradok said his group had been provoked by the vendors, because they had shouted at them to scold their fathers, which made him and his friends angry. So they had a quarrel and fought the vendors.

When the police arrived, Mr. Moradok was unable to elude officers and was captured, but all of his friends escaped. Initially, the police restrained both the injured victims and the arrested troublemaker, and took them to the Pattaya police station to investigate and prosecute further according to the law.