Monday, November 12, 2007

Thai guard accused of killing sleepy colleagues

A Bangkok security guard has been arrested for allegedly beating to death eight guards who slept on the job and badly injuring eight others in a year-long killing spree, police said on Sunday.

"I used to wake them up, but they scolded me. So I've remained enraged since then," Wittaya Jaikhan, 30, was quoted as saying after his arrest on Saturday.

Wittaya, a guard at a Bangkok hospital, told police he would cruise the streets of the Thai capital during his off hours, looking for sleeping guards who he said did not deserve their pay.

He shook them awake but if they kept on dozing, he beat them with an iron pipe or a wooden stick, police said.

Bangkok police chief Assawin Kwanmuang said Wittaya has been linked to 18 attacks on guards since January, the latest on November 4 when a guard at a Bangkok pawnshop was beaten to death.

Police said Wittaya is undergoing a psychiatric assessment before he is formally charged with premeditated murder and theft.

No comments: