The 25-year-old man had arrived with his 27-year-old girlfriend Arona Shevchenko on April 29th as tourists. Both were staying at an upmarket condominium on Sathorn where the murder of the woman took place last Sunday.
A Polish man who was arrested last Monday on the Thai Cambodian border as he attempted to flee the country after bizarrely admitting to a taxi driver that he had murdered and attempted to dismember his Ukrainian girlfriend, was denied bail before Bangkok Court on Wednesday after being transferred from Sa Kaeo Province.
The Bangkok South Criminal Court, on Wednesday, refused to grant bail to the 25-year-old Polish man Mr Jan Jerzy Lagoda-Filippow who was arrested by soldiers on the Cambodian border in Sa Kaeo Province on Monday evening after taking flight from Bangkok earlier in the afternoon following the murder of his 27-year-old Ukrainian girlfriend at an upmarket condominium complex in the Sathorn area of Bangkok.
The killer was later returned to Bangkok where he was taken into custody by police at Wat Phaya Krai Police Station in the capital.
The station received a report from staff at the condominium building at 1 pm on Monday following Mr Lagoda-Filippow’s bizarre behaviour when he attempted to involve a taxi driver in his attempt to dismember and dispose of the body of his Ukrainian girlfriend.
Court noted the circumstances surrounding Pole’s arrest on Monday and judged him a severe flight risk
The court, on Wednesday, noted that the defendant before he had been taken into custody on the border with Cambodia in Sa Kaeo Province, was attempting to take flight from the jurisdiction.
Murder of Ukrainian woman being investigated in Bangkok as police nab Polish boyfriend at border
Given the penalty in Thailand for murder, it ruled that he posed a sufficient flight risk to deny his bail request and consented to a police request under Section 288 of the Criminal Code to detain him for a further 12 days while their investigation progressed.
The court heard from the taxi driver who raised the alarm on Monday, 56-year-old Mr Surachai Sabaibang.
Taxi driver told the court of bizarre interactions with the Polish tourist who reeked of human blood
He revealed that the accused man had asked him to take him to a place where he could buy deodorant.
On Monday, it was reported that the suspected murderer had used a translation app on his phone to communicate with his taxi driver. Mr Surachai thought he wanted to go to an illicit gambling den.
The taxi man told police that there was an overpowering smell of blood from the man.
He became alarmed when Mr Lagoda-Filippow repeatedly told him that he had murdered his girlfriend, at first laughing at his passenger and considering it a joke but eventually believing the fare when he asked him to assist in the disposal of the body and began to ramble on about how the murder had taken place.
The taxi driver drove the Pole back to the Key Condominium complex where alarmed staff quickly contacted the owner of Unit 708 on the 32nd floor to gain entry.
Killer escaped from condo complex a second time
The killer used this time to make his way from the building a second time and hailed another taxi in his failed efforts to escape the kingdom.
Inside the apartment, on Monday afternoon, police found the dismembered body of Ms Arona Shevchenko, the 27-year-old girlfriend of the Polish man under a chequered blanket on the bed soaked with blood.
She had been stabbed in the chest area and her hand was severed from her left arm while an attempt had also been made to sever her head with a one-and-a-half foot handsaw which was found on the bed.
Ukrainian woman died within 24 hours
The belongings of the dead woman had also been ransacked while the air conditioning was left on.
Police forensics at the scene later told investigators that Ms Arona had been dead for approximately 24 hours.
The couple had arrived in Thailand on tourist visas on April 29th and had rented the upmarket condominium for ฿20,000 for the month before this week’s tragic and horrific incident.
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Further reading:
Murder of Ukrainian woman being investigated in Bangkok as police nab Polish boyfriend at border
Car number plate fraud ends in murder and suicide after Chiang Mai police serve arrest warrants
Sexual jealousy and love rivalry behind horrific murder-suicide act of senior Bangkok policeman
Murder-suicide plot as couple die, one injured in Bangkok shooting involving two French nationals
Car number plate fraud ends in murder and suicide after Chiang Mai police serve arrest warrants