Elderly man shot after troops reached Bonkai
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A witness told the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court yesterday that after patrolling soldiers got to the Bonkai area on May 14, 2010 - during the red-shirt unrest - shots were heard and an elderly man fell down bleeding.
Boonmee Rermsuk sustained a gunshot to his abdomen and, 76 days later, succumbed to his injuries.
“He was around there because he was waiting for his granddaughter. She reported herself to school that day and he was worried about her safety with armed soldiers all around,” Boonmee’s wife Nantaporn Rermsuk said.
The soldiers were mobilised in Bangkok at that time because of intensifying red-shirt protests.
Nantaporn, 71, showed up at the courtroom with her three grown-up daughters.
“He was there not because he was participating in red-shirt rallies,” she said.
Thanaporn Wongnarat, 50, said he tried to warn Boonmee about approaching soldiers but it was not in time.
“I shouted out the warning because, as the patrolling soldiers approached, I heard gunshots time and again,” Thanaporn said.
He said he rushed to the elderly man after seeing him fall down with a wound that was bleeding.
“Then, many people rushed to him and identified him as Uncle Boonmee,” Thanaporn said.
The witness said he then sent Boonmee to a hospital on a motorcycle.
“After I sent him to the hospital, I came back to the Bonkai area because I was a red-shirt demonstrator,” Thanaporn said.
He said he later learnt Boonmee finally succumbed to his injuries.
