About 100 people came out to the Thai Buddhist Temple on 125 Street and 135 Avenue yesterday to pay tribute to and mourn the loss of a member of Edmonton’s Thai community.
Apichat Sudsaneh was stabbed to death last weekend near Whyte Avenue and 99 Street as he was trying to help friends who were being attacked by a group of thugs.
Sudsaneh intervened and it cost him his life.
“He was a very honest man, a good man,” said Sudsaneh’s friend of two years, Melissa Davis.
“We never had a chance to say goodbye to him so that’s why we’re here today.”
Monks performed a Buddhist prayer service for the mourners who brought flowers, burned incense and donated money to help pay for the transportation of Sudsaneh’s body back to Thailand.
Sudsaneh was a foreign worker in Alberta who was raising money to support his family. He leaves behind two adopted children, an eight-year-old daughter and six-year-old son.
Davis said Sunday’s memorial service will help bring closure to Sudsaneh’s family and friends.
“We’re having this Buddhist prayer service to send his body back to Thailand and send his spirit to heaven,” she said. “Everyone has calmed down a little now.
First we were in shock, then we got scared and then mad but I spoke to his father yesterday and he has now accepted that his son is gone.”
Police have charged two people in the robbery and attack that killed the Thai welder on June 6.
Michael John Stewart, 21, was charged with second-degree murder, robbery, possession of a weapon and three breaches. Kyle Anthony Brooks, 18, was charged with robbery and assault.
Police are also interviewing three women as part of the investigation and are still looking for two men.
Sudsaneh’s body will be returned to Thailand tomorrow.
