Karaoke Killer Uses The John Denver Defense

A gunman in Thailand shot-dead eight neighbours after tiring of their drunken karaoke singing.

Weenus Chumkamnerd, 52, shot the home owner and seven of her guests as they partied at her home in Songkhla Province, South Thailand.

"When I began shooting nobody pleaded for his life because they were all drunk," he said after his arrest.

He said he was so furious with their awful singing that as soon as 'Hungry like the wolf' came on he flipped out.

He was so mad he did not notice he had murdered his own brother-in-law as they all look the same.

"I warned these people about their noisy karaoke parties. I said if they carried on I would go down and shoot them.

I had told them if I couldn’t talk sense into them I would come back and finish them off," he added.

Mr Chumkamnerd, who works as a rubber tapper, was a man of his word which is rare these days and had a short temper due to being named Weenus. He was arrested after going on the run after his killing spree in the town of Hat Yai, near the Malaysian border.

The woman who was hosting the party, Dr Suthathip Thammachart, 36, was the director of a local hospital who was due this month to get an award for her services to medicine.

One of the revellers survived by playing dead, convincing the gunman that he too had been killed.

When he realised he had shot his own brother-in-law, Boontip Desaro, Mr Chumkamnerd said he was filled with remorse as he knew he'd really be in trouble for that.

He got his son to take Boontip to hospital, but he was already dead.

A neighbour said that the karaoke group normally sang Thai pop and Britney Spears songs but one particular western tune could be heard often - John Denver’s ‘Country Roads’.

Country Roads is a hugely popular song in south east Asia and the neighbour said the revellers had been singing it over and over again.

Mr Chumkamnerd is hoping his judge has taste in music and will just let him off with a fine.