Construction site worker hid behind a mound near the road and saw the married woman returning from work on Monday the 26th of July riding a Honda motorbike. He gave chase and kicked her off her bike before kidnapping the woman and taking her to a secluded spot in order to commit rape.
As police, this week in Phuket, charged the confessed murderer of Swiss woman Nicole Sauvain-Weisskopf with attempted rape, comes another story of the brutal murder of a 40-year-old Thai woman, ambushed and murdered by an 18-year-old man driven to commit the crime, so he told police, after consuming alcohol and watching porn on his smartphone.
On Wednesday last, Thai police in Phuket brought an additional charge against Mr Teerawat Thothip, the murder suspect who brutally strangled Swiss tourist Nicole Sauvain-Weisskopf on Tuesday 3rd August at Ao Yon waterfall, a remote location in the Wichit sub-district at the centre of Phuket.
Police Lieutenant General Kitrat Phanphet confirmed the suspect, who was removed to Phuket Prison earlier in the week, was to be charged with attempted rape after admitting, in his confession to police, that the motive for his attack was to rape the Swiss woman whose body was subsequently found half-naked under a plastic sheet with her shoes and clothing discarded nearby.
Heinous crime committed in Ayutthaya led to arrest by police last Thursday, suspect also fully confessed
Eight days earlier, in Ayutthaya, another heinous crime of a similar nature was being investigated, coverage of which was subdued because of the international media attention focused on the high profile murder in Phuket but the motive was the same.
This led to a raid on a temple construction site on Thursday and the arrest of an 18-year-old man who confessed to an appalling series of criminal acts which left an innocent woman dead after another wanton sexual attack.
On Monday the 26th of July last, 40-year-old Waraporn Imkhan was riding her motorbike home to her village and her husband Mr Wissanu Imkhan.
She had left the factory where she worked at the Saha Rattana Nakorn Industrial Estate at 2 pm.
40 year old woman had left work at 2 pm and was riding home to her husband on a motorbike
Ms Waraporn was riding a Honda PCX motorbike that day from work as the pickup truck which she normally used, had earlier been delivered to a garage for repair.
As she drove along the road, her approach was spotted and watched carefully, by a local 18-year-old construction worker riding his motorbike hidden behind a mound near the Tan En Temple in the Bang Pahan District of the province near the home of the woman.
The man was employed at a building site within the temple.
His family also lived in the area.
The attacker told police he was sexually aroused and had resolved to ambush and rape a woman on the road
He told police he had been drinking alcohol and watching pornographic footage on his smartphone prior to this which led to him being sexually aroused to an uncontrollable extent.
He explained that his intention, from the outset, was to ambush a woman on the road and rape her. And so he did.
As the 40-year-old Ms Waraporn, who was wearing tight legging type pants, approached, he entered the roadway and followed her on his motorbike.
Attacked the woman on the road by kicking her off her motorbike and brutally assaulted her into submission
He then gained speed on her bike and when alongside, he used his foot to kick her motorbike to the ground.
The woman fell on the road suffering injuries and abrasions to her legs, feet and ankles. She was approached by the 18-year-old man who threatened her with a punch to the stomach until she agreed to straddle his motorbike and accompany him to a remote location near the Bang Phra Kru canal.
Once there, the younger man ordered the woman to remove her clothes.
As he confessed to the appalling crime later, he told investigating officers that when he had ordered her to remove her underwear, she had resisted him and he had violently attacked her again.
Naked body of the woman was found in the canal with her clothing discarded nearby on July 27th last
Later, the naked body of Ms Waraporn was found in the canal following a police search of the area after her motorbike was found later on that day.
Her husband had reported his wife missing to local police at Bang Pahan Police Station when she failed to return from work.
The crime is simlar to a premeditated rape and road ambush perpetrated on a 15-year-old schoolgirl in the southern province of Songkhla in March carried out by 49-year-old Prathom Iadkhao who had a prior history of sexual offences.
Songkhla police solve horrendous case which saw a 15-year-old girl raped and murdered on the road
The girl was brutally murdered by the middle-aged man who drove her motorbike off the road into a ditch in a depraved and callous act.
Victim’s motorbike found at a turnoff in the road
On Monday night, July 26th, hours after she was reported missing, Ms Waraporn’s motorbike was discovered at the turnoff to the Wat Tan Aen road at 11 pm while her body was found on Tuesday morning the 27th of July.
Police initially held the theory that the woman was killed by someone known to her and that she was attacked by at least two people.
Woman’s husband questioned by police initially for 6 hours working on the theory she knew her killer
Her husband, Mr Wissanu, was interrogated by police for 6 hours before they concluded there was nothing suspicious about his actions and that the culprit was to be found elsewhere.
The investigation into the woman’s murder was overseen by Police Major General Supathee Boonkhrong, the Commander of Provincial Police Region 1 and the Chief of Ayutthaya Police, Police Major General Naradech Thip-rak.
The investigation itself was assigned to Police Major General Polthit Chaiyarot.
Police conducted widespread DNA testing and were particularly interested in a construction site near the murder location within the Tan En Temple which is where the killer Mr Kawinphop was residing.
Police forensics were able to lift DNA samples from the victim’s clothing including a COVID-19 mask and a headset worn by Ms Waraporn.
DNA match led police to 18-year-old Mr Kawinphop who worked at a site within the Tan En Temple
They found a match.
This identified the 18-year-old suspect Mr Kawinphop Homduang and last Wednesday, August 11th, a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Ayutthaya Provincial Court on charges of killing the 40-year-old woman in the course of a robbery and attempting to conceal the body.
The suspect was arrested during a raid by police on the construction site at the Tan En Temple the next morning on, Thursday, August 12th.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Kittisak Udomrak, the Deputy Chief of Investigation at Bang Pahan Police Station gave more details on the case at that point.
The 18-year-old quickly confessed to the crime and indicated to police a location near a toilet area within the temple where he had hidden a 1 baht gold necklace that he had ripped from the woman’s body after stripping off her shirt.
He also stole her smartphone.
Got angry with the woman after she resisted, strangled her with her own leggings and beat her with a stone to the head before dumping the naked body
He told police that when the woman had become uncooperative and aggressive, he had gotten angry and strangled her with her own leggings which he had secured around her neck.
He then used a stone to bludgeon her to death with a blow just above the right eyebrow.
The killer was brought back to the scene of the crime in a police van where his presence was quickly discovered by angry locals who had been apprised of the outrages committed within the small community and that the suspect was in their midst.
Among them was Mr Wissanu, the 38-year-old husband of the murdered woman, who told the media he had come to look at the man who had taken his wife’s life.
Fears that locals would lynch the accused man
The arrest of the accused and subsequent operation was overseen by Police Major General Polthit Chaiyarot.
At one point, it was reported that police feared for the life of the 18-year-old accused as locals wanted to conduct a lynching.
Police Major General Amphol Buarabporn explained that the culprit had expressed his sorrow and remorse for his actions.
He said he had been gripped by a sudden urge to carry out the acts after his consumption of alcohol and the consumption of pornographic material online.
Family of accused seek opportunity to apologise
The accused, Mr Kawinphop, particularly pleaded with the police to ask the public not to exact retribution from his family, who, he said, knew nothing about the crime and were entirely innocent.
The family had earlier expressed horror and revulsion at the actions of the accused man and issued an apology saying that they would welcome the opportunity of doing so in person to Ms Waraporn’s husband, Mr Wissanu.
Short funeral as woman found to have had COVID-19
Just hours before the funeral rites and cremation of Ms Waraporn was to take place, her husband, Mr Wisanu, was informed by authorities that the autopsy on his wife’s body had revealed she was infected with the COVID-19 virus.
On this basis, warnings were issued by the grieving husband to all family and friends who took part in the ceremony to be vigilant and that those taking part should keep themselves in isolation or self-imposed quarantine so as to prevent a further COVID-19 cluster from emerging in Ayutthaya.
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Further reading:
Murder of Swiss tourist on Phuket raises the disturbing question of tourist safety in Thailand
Songkhla police solve horrendous case which saw a 15-year-old girl raped and murdered on the road
Accused tells press he murdered the Swiss tourist last week in Phuket and stole ฿300 for drugs
Thai man sentenced to death for the Ko Si Chang murder of German woman Miriam Beelte in April
Evil struck a Thai island on Sunday when a local brutally raped and murdered a German woman
93% of Thai people want to see the death penalty put to use to curb shocking murders and drug gangs
New ‘Green’ future for tourism in Phuket as officials crack down on prostitution on the island
Phuket reopening getting up holidaymakers noses with no less than 5 Covid-19 tests to be paid for
Prayut says Thailand will revert to normal for tourism from mid-October as Phuket set to reopen
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Thai economy is still in reverse despite rising confidence and a virus threatening a 3rd wave
Reopening of Phuket still not officially approved although it is the ideal test for a broader move
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Economy to rebound as the year progresses driven by exports and a return of mass foreign tourism
Door closing on quick foreign tourism return as economic recovery is delayed to the end of 2022
