The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) has ordered an urgent investigation after a first-year student was left in a coma after a beating during a freshman hazing.
On Tuesday, Khom, father of Pete (surname withheld), a 23-year-old student at Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok (RMUTTO), Uthenthawai Campus, filed a complaint with the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) regarding his son’s beating at the university.
Accompanying Mr Khom, online petitioner Thamanan Taengtim, alias Ja King Saphan Mai, said Mr Pete is a freshman of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture.
On Oct 7, four senior students beat the freshman in the university’s warehouse, critically injuring him.
One of the seniors then sent Mr Pete to a hospital, where he was put in the intensive care unit (ICU) as his heart had stopped beating. Fortunately, doctors were able to revive him.
Yet Mr Pete remained unconscious. His health condition remains a concern as he was reported to have fluid draining from his lungs and injuries to his chest, arms and brain.
The university invited Khom to discuss what happened a day later.
The university told him Mr Pete may have been beaten by the senior students on two occasions that day, before class and later in the afternoon, after he failed to respond to their texts on the Line messaging app.
“MHESI has offered its deepest condolences to the victim’s family and pledged to create a safer learning space for every undergraduate student,” said Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) ordered MPB Division 6 and Pathum Wan station to work with the university’s lecturers in the investigation.
Pol Maj Gen Chaiyakrit Pho-ah said four students were apprehended for the assault.
Only one admitted what he had done, saying he kicked Mr Pete in the head.
The police plan to seek the highest penalty against the assailants.