Disturbing story from Nakhon Sawan in the lower part of northern Thailand where a 24-year-old agreed with his aunt to kill a 60-year-old foreigner on the promise of a new car to replace his older one used in the act. Police also revealed that the man’s 63-year-old aunt has been implicated and charged previously in a similar murder conspiracy but avoided conviction due to lack of evidence.
Police in Nakhon Sawan, over the weekend, announced the arrest of two women including the 48-year-old wife of a Danish man who was the victim of a road traffic incident on April 21st last on a country road on the Banphot Phisai district of the province on suspicion of being involved in a criminal conspiracy to murder the 63-year-old to secure an insurance payout of ฿10 million and control over ฿20 millon in assets. Police told reporters on Saturday that the man’s Thai wife was the mastermind of the conspiracy.
Thai police in the northern province of Nakhon Sawan, on Saturday, revealed that they had smashed a conspiracy to murder a Danish man who was involved in a near-fatal road accident in the Banphot Phisai district of the province on Thursday, April 21st while out riding his bicycle.
63-year-old Pia Larsen was hit from behind at full speed on a country road by a grey Toyota car driven by 24-year-old Ekkasit Wichacharn in what police initially investigated as a road traffic accident which caused serious injuries to the 63-year-old Dane who survived and is being treated at Sri Sawan Hospital in Nakhon Sawan city.
Forensic examination of accident scene provided police with a disturbing conclusion: it was deliberate
What police uncovered, however, in a forensic examination of the accident scene was a conspiracy to murder the Dane with his 48-year-old Thai wife of longstanding, Pratheep Larsen, at the centre of the plot.
On Thursday, Nakhon Sawan Provincial Court issued two arrest warrants numbers 98/2565 and 99/2565 for the arrest of Ms Pratheep and 60-year-old Ms Jaemchan Khamkaew with whom she is alleged to have contracted to have the murder undertaken for an agreed fee of ฿500,000.
The two were arrested and taken to Nong Krot Police Station in the province where officers had already assembled the outline of a strong case against them.
24 year old motorist confesses under intense police questioning this week, he contracted with his aunt to kill the Dane with the promise of a new car
This followed a breakdown by 24-year-old Mr Ekkasit after he was arrested and taken in for questioning days earlier after officers had begun to entertain strong doubts that the road smash was something more than a normal traffic accident.
This followed a police examination of the accident scene with photographs and scientific measurements which, viewed objectively, strongly suggested that the incident was not an accident at all but a deliberate attempt to inflict injury or to kill the Danish foreigner.
Police retrieved the grey Toyota car, registered in Lampang province number 1397, on the side of the road near the crash with severe damage to the front of the vehicle including a hole in the windscreen caused by its impact with Mr Pia.
Man broke down under intense police questioning
Following simulations of the accident and under intense police questioning as to the motive for his actions, Mr Ekkasit confessed that he had been hired by his aunt, Ms Jaemchan, to kill the foreign resident.
He told officers that she had promised to buy him a new car if Mr Pia was killed out bicycling and that this had been his intention when he drove the Toyota car at speed into the bicyclist as he cycled along the road hitting him directly from the rear.
He said his aunt had subsequently paid him ฿10,000 towards repairs on his crashed car after the Danish man survived the attempt on his life.
Mr Pia is reported to have been nonetheless seriously injured in the crash which local police in Nakhon Sawan reenacted in detail with the help of Mr Ekkasit to prove the collision between the car and the foreign bicyclist was attempted murder.
Long-standing marriage between woman and her Danish husband turned sour after they remained in Thailand from 2020, sought a divorce but was refused
Police officers working on the case had found the car in a paddy field beside the road of the accident with the severely broken bicycle also found nearby.
The background to the plot appears to have been rising tensions within the marriage of 48-year-old Ms Pratheep and her 63-year-old Danish husband.
The couple who have two children, have been married for some time and lived previously in Denmark from where, up to 2020, they returned to Thailand regularly purchasing plots of land on visits.
The two are reported to have built up a portfolio of land holdings comprising 20 Rai of land with an estimated value of ฿20 million.
Mr Pia and his wife opted to stay in Thailand after the COVID-19 emergency broke out in 2020 and it is reported that, lately, the couple began to argue more often leading to Ms Pratheep requesting a divorce and a split of the pair’s assets.
The Dane refused her request and it is thought that this is what prompted his 48-year-old wife to seek the assistance of Ms Jaemchan who, it has been revealed, was involved in a similar conspiracy some years ago but a prosecution against her failed for lack of supporting evidence.
Police say Thai wife was the prime mover
The police case against the two women and the man who carried out the act was outlined in some detail this weekend by Police Major General Atthasit Sudsa-nguan, the deputy commander of Provincial Police Region 6 after he confirmed that the two women had been taken into custody by his officers.
He said that an additional motive for the killing was a ฿10 million insurance payout that would have become due and payable to Ms Pratheep on the death of Mr Pia.
Police showed a detailed chart to reporters outlining the plot and the case against the three accused of conspiracy to commit murder.
The senior officer told reporters that 48-year-old Ms Pratheep, the Danish man’s wife, was the mastermind behind the plot and the key driver of the conspiracy.
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Further reading:
Woman linked to potential mass murder plot to claim insurance payouts from poisoned victims
Policeman at the centre of second wife scandal now facing disciplinary enquiry and living alone
American who stabbed his pregnant wife to death attempted to murder his ex-wife in Colorado in 2019
UK man who cut up a Thai go-go dancer gets short shrift from a European court and faces justice
Hard-up air conditioning repairman arrested for murder of wife and mother in Nakhon Ratchasima
Lopburi child killer is a primary school director who murdered 3 people this month just for kicks
Party over for 45 year old composed armed robber who took ฿4 million in Bangkok gold shop raid
Police near closing the ฿9 million gold robbery case in Khon Kaen as the last suspect returns
