Cleaner accuses 17-yr-old of assault

The assault allegedly took place after Somjit Thongnao, 51, appeared reluctant to return a wristwatch dropped by the youth. She had found the watch on her way home.
Somjit lodged the complaint after video of the fracas appeared on the Internet and led to the surrender of the boy, whose name has not been disclosed as he is a minor.
The boy has been released on bail after turning himself in at Pathumwan Police Station on Monday night.
Somjit said she found the wristwatch while walking past the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre on the evening of July 16. “I walked on, but then two students approached me and asked if I had found a wristwatch. My hearing is not very good. Before we could really communicate, he slapped me in the face. I was frightened and quickly walked away towards a bus stop,” she told police.
She said the two boys followed her and asked again.
“So I took the wristwatch out of my bag and asked if it was his. While I was handing the wristwatch to him, I asked if he could give some money as a reward,” Somjit said. “He reacted by picking up a nearby chair and hitting me in the face with it.”
The boys left the scene, but a tuk-tuk driver came to her aid, she added
“I was hospitalised until July 19, after which I headed to my home province of Khon Kaen to recuperate,” she said. Pathumwan Police Station deputy superintendent Lt-Colonel Panom Chuathong said that if the assault resulted in facial scars, the boy could be charged with causing serious injury.