Police were told by the killer that the 43-year-old man had repeatedly engaged the services of underage 17-year-old prostitute Nong Fai from Satun province and had paid up to ฿10,000 for each assignation with her. The Chinese factory owner was found stabbed to death on Tuesday afternoon by employees of a resort in Trang where the murder took place on Monday night.
Police in Trang, this week, revealed that a wealthy 43-year-old Chinese businessman, Zhair Li, a factory owner who exported rubber wood, was probably murdered by a 22-year-old ex-soldier after he allegedly slapped a 17-year-old prostitute in a hotel bedroom last Monday night when she attempted to take photographs of the older man naked on the bed they shared. During a chaotic crime reenactment on Wednesday at the hotel resort, angry family members of the Chinese man threatened to lynch the duo accused of his murder with the tycoon’s wife refusing to accept that he had paid money for sex with the underage escort.
The key suspect in the murder of a 43-year-old Chinese businessman, Mr Zhair Li, a successful rubber wood exporter in three southern provinces, on Monday night, told police that he killed the man after he received a message from the 17-year-old woman who the businessman was entertaining at a resort hotel bedroom in the Trang province claiming that the older man had slapped her in the face.
It is reported that an autopsy of the body of the Chinese businessman showed that he ingested alcohol and sleeping tablets before his death.
22-year-old ex-soldier received a text message from the 17-year-old woman named Nong Fai saying that the Chinese man who paid for sex had slapped her
According to testimony given by the main accused, 22-year-old Mr Natdanai Ounjaipuen of Jay, reportedly a former conscript soldier with a clean criminal record who served in Yala province, he received a message from the young woman, 17-year-old Nong Fai, an underage prostitute who had been with the older businessman three times before this week’s assignation saying that she had been attacked by the man after taking photos on her smartphone of his naked body while he was asleep.
Police were told that the young woman was paid ฿10,000 for each appointment with the married businessman.
The claim was something which his wife and relatives found impossible to believe as they protested at the two accused men when a crime reenactment at the resort was carried out by police on Wednesday with up to 50 officers, both in and out of uniform, providing security for the two men who ran a gauntlet of aggressive taunts and threats of being lynched by the businessman’s extended family and wives.
Violent fracas at the resort on Wednesday took 50 policemen to control as relatives of the Chinese man threatened to lynch the two accused men
Up to 20 people took part in what descended into a violent fracas as the family groups tried to get their hands on the two accused men forcing police to cut short the crime enactment.
In the meantime, the 17-year-old female accused was interviewed by a multidisciplinary panel and was remanded into the custody of the Trang Juvenile Court.
Police and officials have conducted tests on the young woman’s body to confirm the testimony she gave.
Police are reported to be suspicious of the testimony given to them by the accused including a claim that the Chinese man was attacked by the group after he refused to pay for the sexual favours of the underage young woman.
Contract killer theory ruled out by police
However, senior investigators have ruled out any suspicions that the motive for the murder may have been a contract killing as has happened before in cases in southern provinces given the wealth of the businessman who operates several profitable factories in Trang, Surat Thani, and Songkhla provinces to cater for an export market to China.
Police believe the murder was a joint one conducted by the three accused who formed an intense dislike of the businessman due to his actions and behaviour in connection with the young woman.
The underage 17-year woman is understood by police to have been involved in some sort of relationship with the 22-year-old man Mr Jay while the third defendant, 19-year-old Mr Natthaphon Sukbueng or ‘It’ had accompanied him to the scene of the crime and later fled with Jay and Ms Nong Fai as they made their escape using the victim’s car.
All three accused lived in the same area of Satun province, police traced them on Tuesday via CCTV
All three accused were residents of La-ngu District of Satun province where police arrested them on Tuesday after tracking the Honda Accord car of the businessman.
They were found in possession of the car as well as bank books, bank cards and credit cards of the deceased.
Ms Nong Fai received a message from Mr Jay when he and ‘It’ arrived at the hotel resort. The young woman opened a window in Room Number Six at the establishment to let him gain access.
She then hid her younger lover in the bathroom but it is reported that Mr Li got up to use the lavatory and was confronted by the ex-soldier with a knife which police reportedly also seized on Tuesday.
The young man, who police revealed has an avid interest in knives and weapons, stabbed the older man viciously up to twenty times in the head, neck and back area leaving him dead in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor before escaping with his 17-year-old lover.
On Tuesday afternoon, the staff at the resort hotel discovered the dead body of Mr Li when the Chinese businessman failed to check out.
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Further reading:
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