A Singaporean businessman was reportedly attacked by five people in Thailand and shot about 20 times with an air gun.

He was also hit on the head with a wine bottle, following which, his wife and child were allegedly taken from him.

The incident occurred on March 8, 2022, the man told Shin Min Daily News in an Oct. 17 interview.

Lived in western Thailand

The Singaporean man, Liang, 47, and his wife and child were attacked by five people in their villa in Mae Sot, a city in western Thailand that shares a border with Myanmar.

He revealed that he went to Thailand to do business in 2018, selling health care products.

He met his wife there and he later invested nearly S$200,000 for her to start her grocery store business.

Subsequently, his wife introduced Liang to a man, Chairat Setthiwanit, 29, to discuss a car-buying and selling business, but the two did not cooperate in the end.

Suspected something amiss

When the pandemic struck, Liang was unable to fly to Thailand.

That was when he noticed that his wife and Chairat began to interact frequently.

Liang became increasingly suspicious of their relationship, and decided to fly to Thailand in September 2021 and arrange for someone to pick up his wife and child from Mae Sot and move to Bangkok.

Liang said that when he met his wife at the time, he made it clear to her that if she wanted to go with Chairat, he would not keep her.

However, his wife claimed that Chairat was a local gangster and that she was forced into it.

For several months after that, the family of three returned to Mae Sot and lived without any incidents.

Assault

Suddenly, on March 8, 2022, Chairat and his younger brother, Chajita, 22, along with three other men, climbed over the wall of Liang's residence at night.

The group of intruders went around to the master bedroom near the swimming pool and kicked open the wooden door.

When they rushed inside, Chairat and Chajita shot Liang with a handheld air gun and an air rifle respectively, while the other three men punched and kicked the Singaporean man.

Liang was also hit over the head with a red wine bottle.

His wife knelt down and begged Chairat to spare her husband's life.

Chairat allegedly ordered his wife and child to leave with him, and left Liang alone.

At that time, Liang was covered in blood but still conscious.

He then contacted his friends and they took him to the police and the hospital.

Liang suffered a serious head injury, which required 36 stitches.

He was found to have sustained more than 20 gunshot wounds on his body, two of which were near his left ribs, one on the left chest, and the remaining 17 on his back.

Liang said: "Fortunately, I was wearing a towel, otherwise the wounds would have been deeper."

According to court documents, the two alleged assailants used air guns when they entered the residence.

Liang was stated as having suffered gunshot wounds about 0.5cm in size, four wounds to his head, and had a bruise on his left eye.

Police case in Thailand

The events at the Mae Sot residence became a police case.

The accused, Chairat, maintained his innocence after he was charged with causing serious injury to others, threatening others and damaging property.

The case was heard in the Mae Sot court in February 2023.

Shin Min cited court documents that stated that both Chairat and his younger brother were sentenced in September 2023 to jail for one year and ordered to pay more than 318,000 baht (S$11,997) in compensation.

Liang said he was dissatisfied with the court's punishment as he felt they were too lenient and filed an appeal.

The Singaporean man said he felt the men were at his place to take his life.

He said he found out that the other parties have since also appealed their sentences.

He added that it would take two months for the appeal to be heard, and if the result was still unsatisfactory, they could make another appeal under the court system there.

Could have been fatal

Liang also claimed that the wound on his left chest could potentially have been fatal if it was any deeper.

Court documents revealed that Liang was unable to go about his life normally for more than 20 days after the assault.

After Liang came back to Singapore, he consulted doctors as he felt unwell in his head and chest.

According to medical reports, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and recurring nightmares.

Man part of triad

According to Liang's understanding, Chairat is part of the local triad in Thailand with an extensive network.

This was why Liang's wife could not easily get away from Chairat.

Liang also revealed he was even implicated.

According to him, Chairat forced Liang's wife to file a false police report in Thailand claiming that her husband had impersonated her on Facebook, which led to the police to seek out Liang.

It was not reported in the Chinese press what has happened to Liang's wife and child.

Top photos via Shin Min Daily News