June 05, 2008-Thimphu: Putting aside his emotions, retired police officer Karma Tenzin surrendered his 28-year-old son to the Royal Bhutan Police on the night of May 31.

Fighting tears, the 59-year-old father said he did it for the good of the society.

“It was a tough decision. Like any father who loves his children, I tried my best to reform Lhendup Wangchuk,” he said. “But after he confessed he had burgled my neighbor’s house in my absence, I was left with no other option.”

A drunk Lhendup Wangchuk, according to his father’s statement to the police, had broken into the neighbor’s house at Kuengacholing, Motithang (which later caught fire) on the night of May 29 and had made away with a number of valuable items.

Suspecting his son’s hand, Karma Tenzin interrogated him, and Lhendup Wangchuk eventually confessed to the crime. He had stolen a gold ring with coral, a pair of gold koma, a black bag containing two cameras, a silver ring, a DVD album with discs and Thai Baht 4,620.

“As for the fire incident, my son doesn’t remember anything about it as he was under heavy alcoholic influence,” said the father, adding he recovered the stolen items from under a stack of timber near a construction site above his residence.

The retired police officer said his son is mentally unstable most of the time, used psychotropic substance in the past, and is vulnerable to alcohol abuse. “He had got into similar problems before,” he said.

However, under constant supervision from his father for the last eight years, Lhendup Wangchuk had shown signs of recovery. He had even undergone a six-month cooking course and was waiting to be absorbed as a cook during the coronation and centenary celebrations while working for a local restaurant.

The retired police officer said his son has everything he needs in the house and doesn’t need to steal. “But when he gets into an alcohol-influenced trance he doesn’t know what he is doing,” he said.

Handing over his son to the police for punitive action, Karma Tenzin also requested the authorities to include appropriate treatment necessary for his son. 

He urged other parents who suspect their children to have similar problems not to keep it hidden. “Shielding it will neither help the parents nor the child,” he said.

According to a press statement from the police, the suspect had entered the residence when the occupants were away at Gedu and stolen Thai Baht 7,000, some gold ornaments, a camera, a Handy camera, a set of gold koma with chain and five packets of Wills Navy Cut cigarettes.

“Before leaving the house, Lhendup Wangchuk had set the house on fire to wipe out evidences left behind at the scene of crime,” said a police spokesperson. “Prompt response from the fire fighting unit saved the house from completely getting destroyed. The suspect also has a past criminal record.”

However, the sister of the accused, who was present when the fire broke out, said it was Lhendup Wangchuk who spotted the fire first and that she had even tried calling the relatives of the occupants of the house.

“We then called the fire brigade twice and with the help of the caretaker after joining pipes from the other houses managed to douse the fire,” she said. “My brother and the caretaker broke the window panes and sprayed water inside.”

Zangmo, the caretaker’s wife and also witness to the fire incident, said by the time the fire-engine arrived, the fire was already under control.

“Lhendup Wangchuk was even helping the brigade put off the fire on the other side,” she said.

The police said all the stolen items were recovered but most of the belongings of the house were damaged in the fire.