A Bangkok man live-streamed himself severely abusing his 21-year-old girlfriend on Facebook last night, the latest in a series of disturbing acts carried out live on the social network in the past 12 months. The disturbing video prompted the social network’s users to alert authorities, who then intervened to rescue the young woman.
Following the clip of Chaichana Sirichart, 25, forcing his girlfriend — already covered in blood and bruises — to slap her own face, police identified a condominium in Nawamin area as the location where the abuse took place and rescued the woman at about 7pm last night.
In a part of the video that was released to local media, Chaichana points the camera at his injured girlfriend and says: “You don’t know what I’m like. This is my end of my pain… It’s been four months!”
When authorities arrived at the condo, Chaichana refused to open the door, ultimately letting just one rescuer into the room to perform first-aid on his girlfriend. It took two hours for police to access the room and retrieve the victim.
Songwut Somjantuek, the rescuer who volunteered to go inside the room, said that Chaichana accused his girlfriend of having an affair.
“He [Chaichana] wanted to take the woman to the hospital himself because he doesn’t want to face the crowd outside. I tried to negotiate, and at the end, he opened the door and accepted that he would be arrested,” Songwut said.
He described the woman as “heavily injured,” with severe wounds on her head one of her hands. The dried blood on her face indicated she may have been abused for at least a few hours, Morning News reported.
Photos captured at the scene also show dried blood on the wall.
In the clip showing Chaichana’s arrest, he seemingly had a breakdown, collapsing on the floor outside his room as the police attempted to calm him down.
According to Pol. Maj. Theerapong Wongputak, Chaichana admitted to hitting his girlfriend with a broomstick and hair dryer, though he changed his story more than once, something that was attributed to his being under the influence of drugs, reported Spring News.
Police spokesman Pol. Gen. Wirachai Songmetta said that Chichana tested positive for yaba (methamphetamine tablets).
The victim remains hospitalized, and Chaichana is now in police custody.
The 25 year old has been charged with bodily harm, abduction, using category one drugs, and putting data into the computer system that defames or humiliates another person.
Last night’s attack was just the latest in a series of gruesome events to be broadcast on Facebook Live, prompting concern about the social network’s abuse by users. In August, a Thai mother threatened to hang her toddler when her husband didn’t pick up the phone, and in early 2017, a father in Phuket murdered his 11-month-old daughter before streaming his suicide on Facebook.
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