The 23-year-old man who punched a female Apple salesperson in the face in a dispute over his iPhone X on Sunday has been formally charged with bodily harm.
The millennial, now identified as Kritpan Kitjit, reported to Bangkok police with his lawyer yesterday afternoon. There, he met with his victim, 30-year-old iStudio 7 employee Saijai Trinech, and the two were questioned for about an hour.
In video that went viral on the weekend, an enraged Kritpan could be seen punching Saijai after she refused to replace his iPhone X, which he claimed had a faulty scanner unable to detect his face as advertised.
Speaking to reporters at the Bang Yi Khan police station, Kritpan pressed his palms together in an apologetic wai and said he was sorry about what happened, Amarin TV reported.
“I’d like to apologize to the society that I overreacted. It was the heat of the moment. I’ve apologized to the victim, and she didn’t want to take legal action.”
As if in response to the rumor that his father was a judge (still unconfirmed), Kritpan said: “My parents raised me well, but I did not listen to them much. This has been an expensive life lesson.”
Despite the apology for TV cameras, police charged and fined him THB5,000 (US$150) for causing bodily harm. Kritpan also paid THB50,000 (US$1,500) cash in compensation to Saijai.
The retail worker said that Kritpan tried to exchange his iPhone X on Sunday, claiming the face detection feature did not work. That request was denied after she and another employee checked the phone and found out that it functioned perfectly.
Saijai said she had offered to send his iPhone to Apple for an inspection, but Kritpan became enraged by her refusal and began yelling.
Saijai said she got punched for trying to block Kritpan from entering the store’s storage room. He claimed he was trying to take a photo of the store manager, who was inside the room, so he could report them to the Consumer of Protection Board.
Saijai said she did not pinch Kritpan as he has claimed, but was simply trying to prevent him from trespassing.
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