Police nab final suspect in 2009 murder of Canadian man in Phuket.
Police on Saturday nabbed the final suspect in the 2009 murder of a Canadian man in Patong. The man, 34 year old Francis Alex Degioanni, was shot dead at his house on February 19, 2009.
Degioanni had owned the Panorama Condominium in the Kathu district. An initial investigation revealed that Degioanni was reportedly in conflict with a Singaporean businessman in the real estate business.
The businessman reportedly contacted a Thai woman to hire gunmen. While police caught five of the six suspects in 2009, including the businessman, one suspect has been on the loose for 13 years. He was wanted by the Phuket Provincial Court for deliberate murder, according to the arrest warrant issued in 2009, The Phuket Express reported.
In the ongoing investigation, police found that the suspect, 39 year old Samran Seemek, was quietly living with a friend in the Hin Lek Fai Sub-district of Hua Hin. Officers arrested him at the house where he was staying.
Samran initially denied all the charges against him. He was taken to Patong Police Station for further interrogation and legal proceedings.
The seven bullet wounds sustained by Degioanni included both .38 and .327 calibre slugs, it was reported. Canadian media reported that Mario Degioanni, the victim’s father, said that Francis “had become increasingly nervous during the phone calls he made to his parents twice a week,” before he was murdered.
