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Chalermchai Saengsuwan, 24, and his sister Bussara Intapanya, 35, filed complaints at the Chiang Mai Police Station at 2.20am immediately after the alleged assault took place on Chiang Mai-Hang Dong Road.

Chalermchai told police that Somchai and his friends' vehicles had suddenly cut in front of his sister's car, causing her to honk her horn for fear of being hit.

Somchai and his friends then parked their van and motorcycles in front of the car and dragged them out, Chalermchai said.

The two were forced to lie down on the ground, and Somchai repeatedly kicked him in the face, he said. The assault took about half an hour, and his sister was told by two women in Somchai's group not to say anything to Somchai because he was "drunk and angry". The assault ended when patrolling police intervened.

Admitting to having been carrying a knife when Somchai's group first approached them, he said Somchai had struggled with him to get the knife, resulting in the actor sustaining a cut, which he believed would be used against him.

In the afternoon Somchai, accompanied by his attorney, reported to the police station to testify and file a counter-complaint against Chalermchai for attempted murder.

Somchai said he and three friends had been on their way home when he stopped his motorbike in front of Chalermchai's car at a red light. Chalermchai then blasted the horn at him despite the traffic signal remaining red, so his friends took off first. He caught up with his friends and Chalermchai as they pulled over.

He went over to Chalermchai's vehicle to find the man with a gun and knife in his hand. The man tried to stab him, so he grappled with the man for the knife, after which a fight ensued. His hand was cut, requiring three stitches.

"I was just trying to protect myself as I believed I would be killed if I didn't go for the knife," he said.

He will forgive Chalermchai if he apologises, but legal proceedings must run their course, he said.

Police charged the Somchai gang with assault, while the gun, later found to be a toy, was submitted to police along with the knife by Chalermchai.

Chalermchai said he had to carry both the gun and knife to defend himself.

The Nation