A prisoner serving time at Thanyaburi District Prison in Pathum Thani has escaped with just 23 days left on his sentence, reportedly to search for his missing girlfriend. His father has pleaded with him to surrender.
The Department of Corrections announced the escape of 37 year old Seksan Ruapthong on May 7. He had been convicted of bodily harm and was due for release on May 30.
Prison director Pitakpong Noipitak held an urgent meeting with relevant officials on May 8. Surveillance footage showed an unmarked grey Toyota Revo pickup truck backing up to the escape point before driving away.
Seksan slipped away during a vocational training session at the front of the prison, fleeing through the back of a prison coffee shop before boarding the waiting truck. He had been selected for the outside training programme as a lower-sentence inmate preparing for release. Police and relevant agencies were alerted, and a committee formed to investigate.
Reporters visited the family home in Rangsit subdistrict, Thanyaburi district, where Seksan’s 78 year old father, Phan, spoke to the press alongside village community chairman Charan Phosiri and assistant juristic person manager Wichai Hasdee.
Phan, tearful, said he only learned of the escape from officials the day before and has had no contact with his son since.
He believes Seksan was pushed to breaking point by a combination of pressures: his girlfriend had gone missing and become unreachable, while financial stress from car and mortgage payments, along with being bullied, had worn him down, reported KhaoSod.
“I want him to contact the authorities and surrender,” Phan said.
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