A woman was wounded in the parking lot of Rangsit Mall during a botched robbery.

A woman was wounded in the parking lot of Rangsit Mall during a botched robbery. 

A daring robbery attempt at a prominent shopping mall in Pathum Thani province's Rangsit region resulted in a violent incident in which a woman in a Mercedes-Benz was ambushed and knifed. The incident occurred at 6 p.m. yesterday in the mall's parking lot, and Chatrarat, the 36-year-old automobile owner, was stabbed in the left face. She was promptly sent to Paolo Rangsit Hospital for treatment.

At 8pm, Police Lieutenant Colonel Wichai Phanthungam, the Chief Investigator at the Chulalongkorn Gate Police Station in Pathum Thani, led a team to apprehend 46 year old Kantinant from his hiding spot behind his white Nissan sedan on the second floor of the mall’s parking lot.

The suspect was found with a 30 centimetre long pointed knife, the black waist bag he wore during the crime, and the clothes he had on at the time of the attack.

During the interrogation, Kantinant confessed to financial difficulties, gambling debts, drug addiction, and a need for money for his child, which had also led to an argument with his wife.

He had left home three days before the incident. On the day of the attack, he drove his Nissan to the mall and parked on the second floor near the victim’s Mercedes-Benz.

Stab wound

After following Chatrarat from the mall and into her car, his attempts to force her compliance were met with heavy resistance. The victim honked the car horn in an attempt to draw attention to the scene which only prompted him to stab her and attempt to snatch her purse.

In the ensuing struggle, he inflicted another stab wound to her cheek before fleeing the scene empty-handed.

The assailant then hid behind his car and deceitfully called his wife to help him drive home from the mall, leaving the keys for her.

However, his plan was foiled when his wife could not exit the parking lot due to a lack of a parking card, prompting security to call the police, who then searched.

The police have initially charged Kantinant with bodily harm resulting in injury and attempted robbery, with further investigations ongoing to determine if there are additional charges to be made, reported Khaosod.

This alarming story of an attempted robbery in broad daylight at a well-known Rangsit mall highlights the lengths to which individuals will go when driven by desperation and the importance of security measures in public places.