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Wife keeps husband chained in shed for 40 years

Reporters recently received many anonymous phone calls, telling them that an old man was chained to the floor of a shack in Nongprue, Chonburi.

Photo: 68 year old Noey Nongyai has been chained to the floor of a shed by his wife for the past 40 years.

At the location, reporters were stopped by Ms. Lui Nongyai, 64. She nervously asked newspeople the purpose of their visit.

After telling her, the media walked to the area which informants indicated in their calls. Within the small shack, located approximately 50 metres from a large house, all were shocked to find a naked man of approximately 70, chained to the floor.

Ms. Lui tearfully revealed that the man was her husband, Noey Nongyai, 68. She tried to gain reporters sympathy for imprisoning her husband, telling them that he was mentally unstable and very violent.

She said his emotional disturbance first manifested itself in 1956. Mr. Noey became sullen and refused to communicate. He began drinking excessively and when intoxicated became very violent.

A few months later, in 1957, she and family members took Mr. Noey to Sri Thannya, the Government Mental Hospital.

When physicians told Mr. Lui that her husband’s prognosis for recovery was poor, she asked permission to take him for second opinions and traditional medicine treatments. None of the treatments were successful.

After returning home, Mr. Noey became more violent. Ms. Lui said the only recourse she had was to chain him to the floor in a wire cage. Mr. Noey repeatedly attempted escape, so the cement shed was built, covering the cage and preventing escape.

Mr. Noey has lived this way for the past 40 years. His wife said she never thought of abandoning him. She said she fed him well and provided clothing, which he refused to wear.

Ms. Lui continued, saying that she and her husband owned 11 rai of very prime property, now worth millions of baht. After her husband became emotionally disturbed, she requested the courts grant her power of attorney over all of she and her husband’s assets. She wished to sell the land in order to pay for psychiatric treatment for her husband. She was refused as her husband did not sign the document.

The court ordered that Mr. Noey’s daughter, Ms. Renu, look after her father and gave her power of attorney over the land. Ms. Lui could not seek treatment for her husband due to lack of financial resources.

She implored reporters to help her find a benefactor willing to help her husband.

Now that Mr. Noey’s fate is known, his family will be seeking help for him.

Ms. Nui was informed that not long after she imprisoned her husband, anti-psychotic medications came into general use.

These drugs, which alleviate hallucinations, delusions and violent behaviour, could have helped Mr. Noey.

Whether the poor old man is still chained to the floor is unknown.

Last week, Dr. Ioan Voicu, Romanian Ambassador to Thailand, came to Pattaya on an unofficial visit to look over the city, as Thailand will be receiving a delegation led by the Romanian Minister of Education later this month.

Photo: His Excellency Dr. Ioan Voicu, Romanian Ambassador to Thailand, presents a gift of wine to Deputy Manager of Pattaya City Hall, Thavorn Boonsawat.

Last year, Sukhvit Rangsitphol visited Romania twice, the first time as the Minister of Education and the second time as Deputy Prime Minister (both times under the previous administration). This year, the Romanian delegation of the same level will be visiting Thailand for a couple of days, and has included Pattaya City as part of the itinerary for one day and night.

While here, His Excellency Dr. Voicu made a visit to the offices of Pattaya Mail to express his thanks for our coverage of his country’s National Day. Ambassador Voicu said he loved Pattaya, and that he and his family and staff truly enjoyed their stay here. This is no small compliment from the ambassador of a country whose exotic beauty is one of Europe’s most well kept secrets.

Romania derives its name from Rome, of whose empire she was once a part. The Romanian language, with its beautiful and soft sibilant sound, is more similar to classic Latin than any other Romance language. This makes the language, with its Slavic borrowings, of great interest to linguists.

The country’s beaches on the Black Sea attract sun worshippers, but it is the Carpathian Mountains and Transylvania which gives Romania its individual character.

The wild and untamed forests and balefully beautiful gothic castles, awesome sentinels standing on lone, craggy mountains, attract those with an eye for the esoteric.

In the words of William Meyer, ‘I live in Germany but spent every vacation in Romania. Everything is interesting. In its Byzantine beauty, Bucharest is like no other city on earth. Once out of the city, one is fascinated by the wildness of the forest and the warmth of the people.’

Pattaya Mayor Pairat Suthithamrongsawat, an engaging man, was scheduled to greet the ambassador but failed to show, so Dr. Voicu was welcomed by the Deputy Manager of Pattaya City Hall, Thavorn Boonsawat.

The Ambassador recounted that 3,000 Romanians had visited Pattaya last year and he would do his utmost to promote the city and push the figure up to 10,000.

While visiting Pattaya Mail, Dr. Voicu, an urbane man who speaks Hindi, French, English and German, was most charming and told of his love for the Indian cinematic classics such as the Apu Trilogy of Satayajit Rey.

Pattaya Mail requested the Ambassador return anytime, to which he replied that he and his family would most definitely be returning soon.

by Vichien, in Pattaya

The overpricing which many feared would happen when the baht was devalued, began to become prevalent in small hotels and guest houses in Pattaya this past weekend. This caused considerable consternation to Thais coming for the long weekend and foreign tourists who are not as naive as the hotel operators think.

Thai tourists coming to Pattaya for the New Year complained that small hotels charged double or triple the usual rates. Hotel owners told Thai tourists that they could care less as this was their one chance to make ‘big baht.’

Pattaya Mail reporter interviewed a few dozen foreign tourists who said they were very disappointed, as the publicity concerning ‘Amazing Thailand’ turned out to be sham and humbug.

Residents also found ‘baht bus’ drivers rude, surly and threatening. Pattaya natives were ignominiously thrown off buses as drivers wished to rake in the baht from unsuspecting foreigners.

Residents and tourists also complained of the terrible traffic situation, accusing traffic police of not showing any interest in doing their duty.

Mr. Sutham Phantusak, head of the Thai Hotel Association Eastern Seaboard and the Pattaya City Council warned merchants and service providers, telling them if they continued their greedy behaviour, there would be no tourists left.

Did anyone really think this would not happen?

The stork is still recovering from a hernia as it just delivered a baby elephant to the Nong Nooch Tropical Gardens. Cries of ‘It’s a boy!’ were heard all over as the administrative staff congratulated each other. The keepers were all quivering with fear as they drew straws to see who would get ‘nappy duty.’

The only thing missing to create complete happiness is a name for the petite (in relative terms) pachyderm.

All Pattaya Mail Readers are invited to participate in the auspicious task of naming the baby elephant.

The Nong Nooch Gardens has specified that the name may be in any language, but must be able to be translated in Thai.

Some tips for our foreign readers; In Thailand, the elephant is the one animal accorded as much or even more honour than a human. Elephants don’t usually receive names like ‘Tippy’ or ‘Jumbo.’

Elephants are given human names with auspicious meanings.

The winner will be announced at a solemn ceremony and will have their picture taken with the baby elephant. He or she will also receive a free overnight stay at the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden in an authentic Thai house, free breakfast and dinner at the restaurant, and free admission to the show. The prize is for two people.

Please mail suggestions to the Pattaya Mail Publishing Co. Ltd. 370/8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi, or Fax at Number 427-596.

On New Year’s Eve, a brawl between what witnesses say were ‘adolescent-police’ and a group of partygoers resulted in one of the partygoers being injured.

The ‘grown up’ police at the Pattaya Police Station received a report that a huge imbroglio was in progress at the Hollywood Disco in South Pattaya.

At the scene, officer found Mr. Kriengkrai Boonmusik, 30, lying unconscious in a pool of his own blood in the parking lot of the disco. They rushed him to the hospital for treatment. His assailants had taken advantage of the darkness and escaped.

An eyewitness, Mr. Virat, 23, told officers that before the bloodbath, Kriengkrai and a group of male and female friends came to the disco.

As they were walking to their table, a group of ‘adolescents’ dancing at a table made insinuating remarks to the girls in the first group. Not wanting to be insinuated, the girls asked Mr. Kriengkrai to politely tell the wildly drunk group to cease and desist.

The witness said there were approximately 10 drunken adolescents in the group that assaulted Mr. Kriengkrai.

When Kriengkrai approached them and very politely requested them to shut their mouths, they were not the least interested. Moreover, one of the group got Kriengkrai in a hammerlock which would make Hulk Hogan jealous. Another member of the group bashed him on the head with a bottle.

The whole group of ‘adolescents’ then threw Mr. Kriengkrai to the ground and attempted to grind him into paté with their feet.

After trouncing him inside the disco, the abhorrent adolescents dragged him out to the parking lot and continued stomping until police arrived.

After Kriengkrai regained consciousness and his wounds were treated, he told grown up police that the group of ‘adolescents’ who assaulted him was actually a group of traffic police. He said he did not understand why they did this.

He had seen these police officers often when they were on duty and had never had any problems with them before.

Kriengkrai swears that one of the ‘teens’, who were actually police, threatened him with a pistol.

The eyewitness, Mr. Virat said he had not seen this.

When reporters approached the offending police officer at the station, he refused to talk. His only comment was ‘Damn bad luck! It shouldn’t have happened’ he muttered under his breath. Whether he meant the fight or getting caught is not known.

Officers at the station tried to get both sides to come to an ‘agreement’, but Kriengkrai refused as he had been wounded.

Mr. Kriengkrai also filed an assault complaint against the officer, which was very depressing for officers taking the complaint, as police must ‘stick together’.

The officer’s commander later called both parties to the interrogation room to try and ‘work something out’, as the police did not want to have a long drawn-out problem which would also have to be reported to the Police Department’s High Command.

Mr. Kriengkrai refused again, so the case is being further investigated. Sometimes investigations can be carried on for years until the plaintiff becomes so frustrated that they give up.

Whether this will happen in Mr. Krienkrai’s case is not known.

Police received a ‘tip-off’ that a house in Banglamung had become a supermarket of illegal weapons and schedule 3 drugs (Marijuana).

Armed with a search warrant, officers searched the house of Mr. Aphichat Temikul, a plumbing contractor. Police found 1 Thai made .38 pistol and 13 rounds of ammunition hidden in false bottomed geranium pots.

Aphichat admitted to possession of the illegal firearm, assuring police that he was merely keeping it as personal protection. Aphichat’s lurid story was that he had become involved with another man’s wife and convinced her to come live with him. He felt the wronged husband might become unreasonable and try to do him bodily harm.

Unimpressed police charged him with possession of illegal firearms and took him to the Banglamung Police Station for booking. Police found no illegal drugs on the premises.

A total of 945 employees of the Khunnam Co. Ltd. of Chonburi staged a protest due to not receiving their annual bonuses. In the past, employees received an annual bonus on December 29th.

The atmosphere at the protest was such that the Banglamung District Chief and the Assistant Chief Inspector of the Crime Suppression Division of the Banglamung Police were called in to mediate a meeting held between employee representatives and the company administration to settle the situation.

At the meeting, employees were informed that all assets of the company had been sold to Thai finance companies. This meant that the Industrial Fund Company of Thailand would have to agree to bonuses before they could be disbursed.

Company representatives told employees that a ‘reward system’ had been initiated. Employees will receive awards according to the length of time they had been with the company.

Those employed one year would receive 100 baht, 2 years, 200 baht, 3 years, 300 baht, and each employee who had been with the company more than 4 years would receive 500 baht.

Administrators explained that the economy was so bad that the company was losing money.

Bonuses in Thai companies usually are equivalent to three months to 1 year’s salary.