The Profile of a Predator

The name of the murderer of 13-year-old Sumitra Chhetri in Pamtsho is Cheten (pronounced Choiten) Tshering.

State of mind

A psychiatric assessment said that he does not have symptoms of psychic disorder and that he was conscious and rational when he was examined.

A source said that there are 100 different diagnosis for mental conditions but the only dangerous one among them all is schizophrenia or psychosis where a person imagines he or she is in danger and does things to protect oneself and often justifies the crime as self-defense.

(However, another expert said for people diagnosed with psychosis or schizophrenia, not all of them will have the paranoid type. People with schizophrenia or psychosis are actually more likely to be victims of crime than to commit them.)

The source said that Tshering clearly did not have a mental condition and in fact he knew he did something wrong and escaped and attempted to hide. Even if Tshering had depression the source said that Tshering is more likely to kill himself than others.

However, to find out if Tshering had sadistic tendencies or an urge to hurt and kill, the source said that one would have to dig into his childhood and his past.

While he may not have any obvious medical conditions, it is also true that a ‘normal’ person would also not commit such a heinous crime.

Another source who said that while the psychiatric assessment said he did not have a psychic disorder he exhibited certain signs of not being a normal person.

Tshering revealed he went through a lot of childhood trauma witnessing domestic violence with his parents always fighting and later getting divorced and his father dying and then his mother joining a monastery.

He said he suffered a lot of depression in 2012 while studying in Dagapela.

The other source said that there was a lot of hidden anger in him and he seemed to be driven by anger, power and sadism.

It has been learnt that when Tshering was first arrested and he was questioned he was scared, regretful and he cried but after that he was calm with no aggression.

A difficult childhood

This paper has looked into the background and character of Tshering by talking to his Uncle with whom he was staying in Thimphu, his mother currently based in Bumthang, his last employer in Thimphu and others.

26-year-old Cheten Tshering had a prior criminal record as he was charged with destroying public property in Bumthang in 2019.

 Tshering was born in his village in Nagor in Silambi in Mongar in 1998 to a mother from the same village and a father from Kurtoe, Lhuentse who was in the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA).

However, Tshering grew up mainly in Dagapela in Dagana in his initial years till class six as his father was posted there.

From a young age Tshering witnessed a lot of domestic violence as his father would quarrel with or beat up his mother almost on a nightly basis.

Tshering’s maternal uncle said she even left the house twice and came to stay with him in Thimphu on two occasions leaving her children behind due to domestic violence.

The mother said that while her husband was abusive and violent with her he did not lay his hands on Tshering who was the eldest and Tshering’s younger brother and sister and in fact he was loving towards them.

She said that Tshering’s father would have affairs on the side and was not financially responsible to provide for the family. She said she in fact supported the family through her weaving.

The father had mistresses on the side including some who had his children.

The mother remembers Tshering being a normal child till class 2 when he was seven years old, when an accident seemed to change him.

She said she was about to give birth to Tshering’s younger brother and so left for delivery to Tsirang and in the meantime Tshering was left at a friend’s place.

She said Tshering, while playing there, fell from a two-storey house and was badly injured having to spend a week in the hospital with a head injury among others and he still carries a scar on his head from that accident.

The mother claims Tshering has not been the same since then and started exhibiting strange or naughty behavior ever since.

She said once Tshering was in class 4 in Dagapela school he climbed on the school roof and urinated on the Principal’s head.

When asked what was the other strange behavior she said he would be in a good mood and do his work at home and study but then he could suddenly become depressed or morose and quiet and would not do much and even refuse to eat at times.

She said he had a tendency to disappear at times and not even answer his call.

Parents split and father’s death

In 2009 Tshering’s mother and father separated and Tshering opted to stay with his father and the father’s new wife in Dagapela from 2010 to 2011.

Tshering’s mother claims that with poor supervision at this time Tshering from class 6 itself picked up a drug habit in the form of Marijuana.

In 2011, Tshering’s father fell ill and died in hospital in JDWNRH. His mother said that she had to take care of him for around 3 weeks as his new wife had abandoned him.

The mother said though she carried out all the funeral expenses and rites afterwards she did not get the full benefits left behind by Tshering’s father as his sister came and took around half of it. This is even though the benefits were kept in the children’s name.

Tshering expressed a wish to join the monkhood at this time and this was driven in part by advice from family members that all basic economic needs would be taken care of there. He joined a monastery in Trongsa but it only lasted a few months and he withdrew and came back.

Tshering was 13-years-old when his father died in 2011. His mother tried opening a shop in the Dechencholing town below the road but it did not work out and so she had to close shop and leave.

The mother said she advised her son against a drug habit like marijuana and other habits like alcohol as they are nyamchung people and she had no income.

 He stayed with his mother in Bumthang from 2013 to 2014 where his mother was a member of a Threma religious group. During this time, he was not in school.

His mother’s sister took him to the village for a few years where he completed his studies till class 9.

Odd jobs in Thimphu

After that Tshering kept coming to Thimphu for odd jobs and one of them was working for a Jinda in the Dechencholing area in 2019.

His mother said he worked for a few months in Dechencholing at the time and then quit and went back to the village in Mongar for a while.

The mother said she never even dreamt her son would do something like this and now the only thing she can do is pray.

Tshering’s maternal uncle said that Tshering started staying with him only around a month or so ago and before that he was in Bumthang and also in Thimphu. The uncle said his wife found a job for Tshering at a store in Thimphu that paid around Nu 10,000 per month and so Tshering stayed with them.

The uncle said he hoped to get Tshering to settle down and dropped and picked him up and even told him not to drink outside and fall in bad company but to drink at home where the uncle used to give him an occasional beer bottle.

The uncle said there was nothing noticeably off about Tshering and on the contrary, he was a soft-spoken guy and was not aggressive.

He said his wife was very impressed by Tshering who was hardworking and did housework like cooking and cleaning too.

He said the last he saw of Tshering was on the evening of 21st May when he said he would be visiting a maternal aunty who had just moved to Taba along with her husband, a public servant, who had been transferred to Thimphu.

The uncle said that from then on Tshering’s phone was switched off and he could not even contact him when the store was looking for him.

The uncle said that Tshering had stayed in Thimphu before too doing odd jobs and he stayed with friends in Olakha and other places like Dechencholing and Kabesa.

Tshering was also known to go back to his village in Mongar and engage in binge drinking when relatives gave him money and his phone would be switched off.

Tshering’s younger brother spent 7 months in the monkhood and then left and got married and settled in the village while his youngest sister is still in school.

Tshering’s workplace feedback

The paper found that previously Tshering worked at a private archery range in Kabesa.

Tshering last worked in a store in town for the month of April and a part of May 2024 where he was quite erratic in his attendance.

The store owner said that Tshering had been hired as a loader but he kept to himself and did not interact much with other staff or hang out with them after work.

The owner said that none of the other staff are even Facebook friends with him.

The owner said he used to not come on some days and so when she questioned or scolded him he would only give a smile and not talk back.

She said it was his apparently humble nature that prevented her from firing him even when he missed many days from work.

She remembers him being of above average height at around 5’8 or more and she said the store loaders have to be strong as they have to carry up to 100 kg of rice bags up the stairs repeatedly.

Tshering apparently stopped coming to work around 10 days before the incident and his phone was also not reachable.

No rape

The DNA testing for the victim ruled out rape though Tshering admitted to violating her with his finger which was confirmed by the forensic report.

A danger here is that given that the murder was not pre-planned and happened at the spur of the moment, he could get charged with manslaughter instead of homicide and so his violation of the victim using his fingers becomes important to up the charges against him to homicide which is the felony of the first degree.

Readers have been asking for his picture to be released but the police have not released his picture as the case investigation is ongoing.