Police probe suspected dog poisoner’s excuse based on mental
Police will seek an arrest warrant for a medical student if they find his request to postpone acknowledging charges of animal torture and fraud was unjustified.
“We will review his reasons first. But if those reasons are unreasonable, we will ask the court to approve an arrest warrant for him,” Pol Lt-Colonel Suebpong Karuna, a deputy superintendent of the Bangkok-based Suttisarn Police Station said on Sunday.
He was speaking after the lawyer of the medical student, who is now suspended from his studies and has been diagnosed with mental problems, had mentioned the need for a postponement.
The suspect in the case is accused of poisoning a pet dog in the hope of claiming compensation from a transport service that was hired to bring the dog from the capital to a clinic in Nakhon Ratchasima province.
The Suttisarn Police Station has issued a summons for the suspect to acknowledge the charges against him on Tuesday.
However, his lawyer recently told the Suttisarn Police Station that the suspect was now not mentally ready for the police interview and needed to request postponement.
The suspect lives with his parents in Nakhon Ratchasima.
Accompanied by his family and lawyer, the medical student reported himself to the Pho Klang Police Station in Nakhon Ratchasima on Saturday night and denied charges against him.
The province’s livestock office lodged a complaint with police against him on grounds of animal torture after receiving a report that he might have poisoned a dog.
Pol Lt-Colonel Pichai Cherdchu, a deputy superintendent at the Pho Klang Police Station, said the medical student had acknowledged but denied the charges.
“He refused to be interrogated. He has exercised his right to speak only in court,” Pichai said.
