TRANG – Mr. Straumann, 62, a Swiss suspect of assaulting a Thai woman, Mrs. Ree, 53, at a supermarket in Trang Municipality, was still in custody for the second day. The Thai woman is still in the hospital. Doctors said it would likely take at least a month for her to fully recover from her injuries due to a broken nose bone.
Mr. Straumann was brought to court on 6 March to face two charges: Assault and resisting law enforcement officers for refusing to acknowledge the charges and fingerprinting.
On March 7, immigration officials told Trang police that Mr. Straumann had been placed on a watch list to prevent him from leaving the country pending the court’s decision. As for the withdrawal of visa or residency rights in the kingdom for Mr. Straumann, it awaits the final judgment of the court.
The Swiss Embassy in Thailand instructed the police to deal with Mr. Straumann in accordance with Thai law.
The Swiss suspect’s former Thai wife explained in an interview that she had separated from him two months ago. When she heard the news, she was shocked. On March 6, she made a statement to the investigators and confirmed that her husband had never been violent during their 16-year relationship and had even supported their child until he finished university.
After the police took her former husband into custody, she went to the court in Trang and confirmed her relationship with him to the authorities. However, she could not help with his bail as he refused to come forward. Moreover, he only had credit cards and no cash. The authorities have not contacted her again, but she has heard that they have confiscated his passport until the court case is completed.
“Normally, my ex-husband isn’t a bad person, but I’m still confused about what happened. Why were there no surveillance cameras in the supermarket, even though most malls have them almost everywhere, including the parking lots? And where did the recordings disappear to? But I didn’t give it a second thought and I could see that he was stressed when we parted ways,” said the former Thai wife of the Swiss man.
The dispute occurred on March 5, 2024 on the second floor of a well-known supermarket. According to the wounded Thai woman, the Swiss man bumped her, causing the shopping cart to fall out of her hands and nearly fall. She then asked him loudly in English, “Be polite, please.” This displeased him, and he attacked her.
According to a 55-year-old Thai neighbour, Mr. Straumann had been renting the house for more than ten years and rarely socialised with anyone. He mentioned that Mr. Straumann was a grumpy person. He blames others for anything that goes wrong or causes a problem.
“Based on his personality, I expected something like this to happen at some point. Our neighbours have always tried to avoid him. In my opinion, doing this after he has moved to our country is not acceptable. “It’s violent, especially when done with a woman,” he explained.
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