22 February 2019

YASOTHON – Police in Thailand’s Northeastern Province of Yasothon have reported that a teenage mother had murdered her three-year-old son by slashing his throat with a kitchen knife. She then attempted to kill herself, complaining that she had “many problems”.

When police and rescue workers arrived at the house they found blood splattered on the floor and the 19-year-old mother was waiting inside.

Self-inflicted slash wounds were also found around her neck as she had tried to kill herself after killing her son. The source of her “many problems” has been traced to her unplanned pregnancy at the age of 16. Just before she gave birth to the son she killed, her boyfriend abandoned her.

She had continued her wild, uninhibited ways after giving birth to the child. A nude video she made of herself was accidentally shared with a friend of hers who later tried to extort 3,000 baht from her. She told her mother about the extortion. Instead of going to the police, her mother scolded her.

In a fit of rage, she grabbed a kitchen knife and slashed her 3-year-old son several times in the throat. Violent, impulsive acts like this are very common all over Thailand. They are most unexpected, but by no means uncommon in the peaceful countryside. Alcohol and firearms are a common trigger for these tragedies, but extreme embarrassment are equally powerful sparks for an explosive reaction.

For stories of sheltered Singaporeans’ misadventures in Thailand, check out Spellbound in Chiangmai by Chan Joon Yee

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