Axe lady and sister face three charges, but they deny all but one

The “axe lady” and her sister turned themselves in to the police at Prawet district police station to acknowledge the charges against them for the axe-bashing of a pickup truck which parked in front of the entrance of their house in Seri Villa housing estate on February 18.

Accompanied by their lawyer, Ms Rattanachat and Ms Maneerat Saengyoktrakarn were slapped with three charges – causing damage to the other people’s property; intimidation causing panic to the other people and carrying a weapon in public.

However, the two ladies acknowledge the charge of causing damage to the other people but denied the two other charges, said lawyer Anantachai Chaidet, claiming that the two women had no intention whatsoever to harm anybody.

He added that a complaint would be filed against the owner of the pickup truck, Ms Ratchanikorn Lertvasana.

A police inquiry officer in charge of the case explained that the three counts of charge against the two women were based on the testimony of Ms Ratchanikorn as well as the evidence collected.

The axe-bashing incident became the talk of the town in mid-February after footage of the incident was posted on the social media and went viral. Reactions were mixed but most them were in sympathy with the axe lady after it was disclosed that the family has been suffering for almost a decade with cars blocking the driveway to their house, noise pollution from cars of shoppers flocking to the 5-7 markets – most of them illegally built – in the housing estate.