Volunteer denies fatal shot charge

Deputy governor's death still mystery

POST REPORTERS

The defence volunteer about to be charged with carelessness resulting in the death of Pattani deputy governor, Sunthorn Ritthipakdi, is denying that he discharged his M-16 rifle by mistake.

The official's death on Monday has ignited a storm of controversy over whether he was deliberately shot or if it was simply an accident.

The volunteer, Abdul Wae Dohloh, said Sunthorn himself knew he was not the one who shot him and had even volunteered to help confirm his innocence if he was arrested.

Mr Abdul, 32, was guarding Sunthorn during the deputy governor's visit to a village security team in Pattani's Yaring district just hours after two team members were attacked while riding their motorcycles home on Nov 23.

While waiting for his car, a gunshot was heard. Sunthorn fell to the ground. He was shot in the right hip and the bullet passed through his abdomen. He was taken for treatment at Prince of Songkhla's University Hospital in Hat Yai district, Songkhla. His condition was said to have been much improved and he was expected to be discharged yesterday.

The hospital, however, pronounced Sunthorn dead at 5.28pm on Monday. Doctors said a massive pulmonary embolism caused by a blood clot in his left lung was the cause of death.

They said a blood clot in his lung led to a sharp drop in oxygen levels in his bloodstream causing him to go into shock. He was rushed to the intensive care unit where he was put on a respirator and given medication but his extremely low blood pressure caused several of his organs to stop functioning and then his kidneys failed suddenly.

The doctors at the hospital said Sunthorn's case was rare.

A royal bathing rite, presided over by Interior Minister Pokin Polakul, was performed yesterday at Wat Hongpradittharam in Hat Yai district.

Police have yet to conclude if he was the intended target of an attack or if he was hit by a bullet from a gun that was accidentally discharged.

Investigators, however, said the evidence pointed to Mr Abdul. The defence volunteer had already turned himself in to Yaring police to hear the charge of carelessness resulting in an injury of another. He refused to plead guilty.

Mr Abdul called on Pattani governor Cherdpan na Songkhla yesterday protesting his innocence.

He said he was standing behind Sunthorn, about five metres away, with his back turned to him. He said his rifle was in his hand with its muzzle pointing to the ground. His finger was not on the trigger and the safety catch was on.

``I followed the safety codes strictly. The deputy governor told me not to be worried. He believed it was not me,'' Mr Abdul said.

He said he lay down on the ground on hearing the gunshot as he thought it was an insurgent attack.

He visited Sunthorn at the hospital and the deputy governor said he knew it was impossible that the bullet that hit him came from his rifle.

``All I know was that there was a group of people standing behind Mr Sunthorn, about five metres away from him, but I could not identify them because it was very dark,'' he said

Mr Abdul said he returned his rifle to the arsenal without cleaning it and that checks on the weapon later had found no traces of gunpowder.

``I don't know if the guns of the police and soldiers who were also there that night were checked too or not. Please be fair to me,'' Mr Abdul said.

Mr Cherdpan said ballistics and other pieces of evidence indicated it was certainly an accident. ``An attack is out of the question,'' he said.

The Pattani governor said all security officials were in great stress that night for fear of being ambushed. They may have been ready for combat and so accidents could have happened, he said.

However, Mr Cherdpan demanded a clean, fair and thorough investigation, saying he would not tolerate his defence volunteer being turned into a scapegoat.

Pattani police chief Thanacharoen Suwannon said investigators now had solid evidence to substantiate the charge against Mr Abdul but he did not elaborate.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said the investigation indicated the shooting was an accident.

The suspect had a previous record of accidentally discharging his weapon, Mr Thaksin said.