Hearing Revives Memory of Wife’s Fiery Death : Refugee’s Rage Scars Brother

It has been more than four years, but Yiou Sechang still thinks about it every day:

Waking up on his living room sofa to find himself engulfed in flames . . . his wife rushing to his aid with a blanket, only to catch fire herself . . . his brother running to the front door and holding it closed from the outside, trapping Sechang’s family inside their Van Nuys apartment.

From there the picture goes blank. Sechang thinks he blacked out.

But others have reconstructed the events of Nov. 1, 1981, for him.

He now knows that two neighbors who had been visiting the apartment quenched the flames with a fire extinguisher and water and helped his four children escape through the bathroom window.

Wife Dies of Injuries

He also knows that his wife, Yong Sechang, who very likely saved his life, died two days later of her injuries. She was 32.

His brother, Chang In Chai Bounsoy, doused Sechang and his wife with gasoline, then ignited the fire with a cigarette lighter. Police arrested him shortly afterward when they found him lying in the dry Tujunga Wash near Sherman Way and Woodman Avenue in Van Nuys, both ankles broken in what they described as a failed suicide leap from a bridge.

Sechang spent the three months after the fire in a hospital, undergoing treatment for severe burns on his hands, face and chest. The scars serve as a constant reminder of the tragedy.

Sechang, now 48 and living with his four children in an austere house in Van Nuys, has not seen his brother since the fire. But the two Laotian refugees may soon come face to face in Van Nuys Superior Court.

(Bounsoy goes by the family’s Laotian name, whereas Sechang uses the Mandarin Chinese name.)

Bounsoy, unable to comprehend court proceedings or to assist his attorney in preparing a defense, was declared incompetent to stand trial in June, 1983, and was sent to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino for psychiatric treatment.

Officials there now believe that the 36-year-old defendant, who speaks only Mandarin Chinese and Laotian, has recovered his sanity and is capable of standing trial. He is charged with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of arson.

Sechang and a social worker, who helped the family settle in the San Fernando Valley after their escape from Laos during the tumultuous 1970s, speculate that Bounsoy simply may have broken down under the frustrations of refugee life.

“When they came here, everything was gone--no house, no money, no language,” said Thong Sy Chen of the International Rescue Committee, a resettlement agency that aided Bounsoy and Sechang.

“Some of the refugees just can’t cope with their problems.”

Three Possible Fates

The pending court proceedings before Judge James A. Albracht will determine which of three fates awaits Bounsoy: continued confinement at Patton, a state prison term or freedom, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert L. Cohen.

The facts of the crime are not disputed, only the defendant’s mental state.

Sechang, who still cries when he thinks about his wife’s death, has mixed emotions about Bounsoy.

“It’s very hard to explain,” Sechang said in an interview through an interpreter. “I’m angry, but, on the other hand, he’s my brother.”

Sechang is at a loss to explain what prompted the attack, saying he and his brother had argued, but over fairly minor issues.

According to court records, Bounsoy said he remembers nothing of the fire and cannot believe that he could have hurt his brother. Bounsoy declined to be interviewed at County Jail.

Another brother, who now lives in Riverside, is quoted in court records as saying that Bounsoy “has always acted crazy, even as a little boy.”

But Sechang disagrees.

“Whether he’s sane or insane, he seemed OK in Laos,” he said.

Until the 1975 Communist takeover in Laos, Bounsoy lived the life of a middle-class playboy, according to Sechang, who spoke to a reporter with Chen’s assistance.

Successful in Laos

Although he had only six years’ education, Bounsoy owned a watch repair business and was considered skilled at his craft, Sechang said.

“He had plenty of girlfriends and money,” Sechang said.

Bounsoy fled Laos in 1975, crossing the Mekong River into Thailand, where he spent the next four years in a refugee camp, said Sechang, who took the same route with his wife and children a year later.

One document in Bounsoy’s court file quotes the defendant as saying that he was exposed to Agent Orange, the toxic herbicide used by American troops during the Vietnam War. But Sechang said that neither he, nor his brother, was involved in the warring in Indochina.

‘He Didn’t Seem Violent’

When Bounsoy arrived in Los Angeles in 1979, Chen said, he appeared to be calm. “He didn’t seem like a violent person.”

But the resettlement agency struggled to find work for Bounsoy, who knew no English and disdained the menial jobs that were available to him. After working for a few months as a cook at a fast-food outlet, Bounsoy quit because other workers taunted him for his communication problems, Chen said.

“I tried to get him a job in a jewelry store,” Chen said, “but they wanted someone who could speak English.”

Refused to Find Work

Unable to support himself in an apartment, Bounsoy moved in with his brother’s family in the 14400 block of Valerio Street. Sechang said he pressured his brother to find a job, but Bounsoy complained that he could not work because he did not have a car and was unwilling to travel by bus.

Sechang and others in the tightly knit refugee community considered Bounsoy lazy, and they criticized his heavy coffee drinking and cigarette smoking, court documents show.

“He spent too much money on cigarettes and other things and couldn’t save,” Sechang said. “He grew frustrated because I expected him to find his own place and make his own life here.”

Sechang said Bounsoy often complained about fierce headaches and refused to attend school, saying the headaches prevented him from concentrating.

Threatened Child

Then, several weeks before the fire, Bounsoy presented one of Sechang’s daughters with a photograph of herself. She didn’t like it and tore it up, Sechang said. Infuriated, Bounsoy grabbed his niece and threatened her with a knife.

Sechang said he interceded and told Bounsoy that he would have to move out.

In reconstructing events leading up to the fire, Sechang said he now believes that the photograph incident may have been the final frustration that triggered his brother.

Chen said that, although fire became a fairly common means of suicide during the Vietnam War, arson is considered a rare method of murder among the Indochinese.

Next Step Explained

According to prosecutor Cohen, the next step in Bounsoy’s case is a hearing to determine whether he is able to stand trial. That hearing is tentatively scheduled for June 25.

If the judge rules that Bounsoy’s competence has been restored, a jury will then decide if he is guilty or innocent.

If found guilty, a second trial will be held to determine if he was sane or insane at the time of the fire. If found not guilty by reason of insanity, but sane now and no longer a danger to the community, Bounsoy could be released, Cohen said.

However, Deputy Public Defender Mark Lessem said insanity verdicts are rare in California and that Bounsoy might be better off with a plea bargain that would send him to a prison hospital for a few years.

Sechang said he does not fear his brother, but he has not forgiven him. Disabled by his injuries, Sechang has been unable to work and must rely on government assistance to support his son and three daughters, who range from 10 to 17 years old. He has not remarried.

“If he is released, he would not be able to come here anymore,” Sechang said. “I wonder how he will survive, where he will live.

“If he becomes a good person, maybe someday I can forgive.”