Sitting around Ms HG’s pad in Bangkok waiting for the poor old lil’ Thai princess to finish whatever godawful exam the system requires of a six year old AT 7am on a Sunday morning and my eyes have again wandered to one of the most haunting pics I’ve ever seen on a mantelpiece.
It’s a snap of Ms HG and her seven siblings posing with their father who has just become a Thai monk after eight years in prison for murdering their mother. Ms HG and her younger sis were curled up on their ma’s lap watching a village outdoor movie, dad emerged from a yet another week-long booze, opium and dope fuelled binge and somehow decided that despite mum single-handedly raising and providing for the eight kids, she must have been having an affair. He grabbed a big blade and chopped her in the throat and she bled to death right there all over the two little ones (8 and nine at the time).
The looks on the faces in that picture are mind boggling, all the more so because as Thais they are trying to put the best possible spin on it. As a further insult, he’d only moments before the pic was taken explained that he had no regret and that “the bitch deserved it” recall he was at the time of the group pic a monk, rightfully or wrongly a highly revered thing to be here.
Murdering spouses is perhaps the clearest sign possible that something/anything should have been done a whole lot earlier. It’s why the need to work hard at these damned relationships and not ever allow yourself to fall into a sullen mutual contempt, which is sadly all so damned common.
As for the OP’s tale. probably best see how this pans out. Murders of and by foreign folks in Boracay can get pretty darned funky. See that case of the gay HK-based-German art dealer and his pals a couple of years back as a good example.
[quote]Unsolved crime: Boracay murders shock resort isle
By JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE, The Manila Times Reporter
From its perch near the top of Mount Luho, the Dolce Vita mansion offers a breathtaking view of Boracay’s fabulous white beaches.
The imposing, three-story mansion is owned by Anton Fausenhauser, a 69-year-old German who had taken up residence on the resort island. The Dolce Vita mansion has become a landmark in Boracay not because of its location and beauty but because of the gruesome murder that took place there last year.
On the afternoon of May 3, 2004, Patrick Higgs arrived at the mansion at the behest of Fausenhauser’s Filipino wife, Josephine. The German had not answered calls or seen visitors for several days, so Josephine was worried.
Higgs found the mansion’s door locked. He peered into the windows to check if anyone was at home.
The curtains of the window of the servants’ quarters were open, and when Higgs looked in he found the blood-soaked body of Emily Sarmiento, the German’s 35-year old Filipino maid, sprawled on the floor.
Higgs called the Boracay Special Protection Unit (BSPU). Police officers broke into the mansion and found three more bodies on the second floor: Fausenhauser and his guests, Manfred Schroeni, a 60-year-old Swiss, and John Cowperthwaite, a Briton. All of the victims had been stabbed repeatedly.
The three foreigners had impressive credentials. Before moving to Boracay, Fausenhauser was a property developer and owner of a spa and hotel in Germany. Schroeni headed an international consortium that owns Ashanti vineyards and was one of the leading art and antique dealers in Hong Kong. Cowperthwaite was a prominent British architect.
The only clues recovered by investigators were two bloodstained breadknives found inside the toilet of the master bedroom, a baseball cap beside Fausenhauser’s body, and a bloody right footprint near the slain German.
A search of the mansion’s grounds turned up Schroeni’s bloodstained clutchbag containing his passport, credit cards and a plane ticket.
The police formed a task force, headed by Supt. Remus Canieso of the BSPU, and composed of the Aklan Provincial Police Office, led by Supt. Odelardo Magayanes; the Police Regional Office VI, led by Director George Aliño; the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group VI, led by Chief Inspector Marlon Tayaba; and the Scene of the Crime Office VI.
Robbery was suspected. A subsequent inventory of the items inside Dolce Vita disclosed the disappearance of 6,000 Hong Kong dollars, credit cards, a Giorgio Armani handbag, two cellular phones, a digital camera, electronic organizers, a tape recorder and the victims’ wallets.
Police rounded up 25 construction workers who were building a swimming pool and a rest house beside the mansion.
One was detained and the others were released because no evidence linked them to the crime. The lone detainee, Chito Catalogo, reportedly failed a lie-detector test.
Weeks later, results from the Crime Laboratory implicated German Uwe Friezel, Fausenhauser’s former maintenance worker, after it found that the bloody footprint inside the mansion matched that of his foot.
CIDG 6 filed charges of robbery with multiple homicide against Friezel, Catalogo and several other John Does.
The charge against Catalogo was dismissed by the Aklan Prosecutor’s Office, which ruled that the result of the lie-detector test was inconclusive and inadmissible in court.
Friezel fled the country despite a hold departure order against him.
Supt. Jorge Corpuz of CIDG 6, who took over the case from Chief Inspector Tayaba, told The Manila Times that upon the issuance of a warrant for his arrest in January this year, Friezel had taken flight.
They had been monitoring Friezel’s movements; he was last seen in Puerto Galera, Mindoro.
“We suspect he escaped from the country by yacht. We received information that he is in Germany,” Corpuz said.
He added that the police national headquarters in Camp Crame has been constantly in touch with the German Embassy and the Bureau of Immigration to determine how to bring back Friezel.
Until then, justice has been put on hold for Fausenhauser and the other victims of the Dolce Vita murders. [/quote]
