Pol Col Sombat Chuchaiya, chief of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya police station, interviews Prasit Ruangsombat, 68, a homeless man who was savagely beaten and burnt by a gang demanding protection money. SUNTHORN PONGPAOAt 68 years of age, homeless beggar Prasit Ruiangsombat would seem to have troubles enough. Instead, he lives in constant fear of his life because of a local gang demanding protection money.
Today, Mr Prasit is in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya hospital with burns and other injuries inflicted by the gang. He says this is the second time he has been attacked in a week.
The latest incident took place in the early hours of yesterday near Hua Raw market in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district. He says was jolted from his sleep at about 2am to find the rest area where he was sleeping engulfed in flames. Passers-by helped him to escape the fire and took him to hospital for treatment.
He said he saw members of the gang fleeing the scene after he woke up. He said he was attacked by the same gang last Friday after failing to pay them protection money.
Mr Prasit said he was homeless and had been begging in the district, particularly near a market in front of Chankasem Palace.
He said a group of three or four men had been demanding protection money from beggars in the area. Mr Prasit said the gang leader was named Chang.
Each beggar had to pay the gang at least 400 baht a day. If they did not, the gang would terrorise the beggars.
He said Chang often extorted money from him, but lately he could not earn enough to give to him. The gang was furious and threatened to harm him.
Mr Prasit said the attack last Friday left him with burns to his legs but he decided not to see a doctor or complain to police for fear the gang would come after him.
He said he managed to make only 200 baht on Sunday and did not have enough to pay the gang.
Pol Col Sombat Chuchaiya, the district police chief, said a warrant would be issued for the arrest of the man known as Chang on a charge of causing physical harm to others.
Adapted from a story in today's Bangkok Post by Sunthorn Pongpao.
cruel – deliberately causing pain to other people or animals ป่าเถื่อน โหดร้าย
savagely – in an extremely violent, wild or frightening way อย่างป่าเถื่อน, อย่างโหดร้าย
protection money – money that criminals take from people in exchange for agreeing not to hurt them or damage their property
constant – continuous; all the time ต่อเนื่อง
local – in or related to the area that you live, or to the particular area that you are talking about ท้องถิ่น
inflict – to force someone to experience something very unpleasant สร้างความเจ็บปวด
incident – something that happens, usually something bad เหตุการณ์
jolt – to shock; to cause to move suddenly ทำให้ตกใจ
engulfed – covered or surrounded by something harmful, in this case, fire ปกคลุม
flee – to leave a place or person quickly because you are afraid of possible danger หนี
terrorise – to make someone feel very frightened by threatening to kill or hurt them คุกคาม ทำให้กลัว
extort –to try to illegally obtain something by force or threat รีดไถ
furious – extremely angry โกรธจัด
threaten – to say that you might do something bad or harmful, especially in order to make someone do something ขู่เข็ญ คุกคาม ทำให้กลัว
(arrest) warrant – a document signed by a judge allowing police to arrest someone หมายจับ
issue – to officially announce or give out ออก, ออกประกาศ, ออกคำสั่ง
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