Samui bar owner, guard confess to slaying Turkish tourist

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: A security guard and the manager of a bar on Koh Samui confessed on Friday to conspiring to shoot dead a Turkish tourist, police said yesterday.

Kabin Srisa-ard, 27, the guard, and Kanapong Nakwatchara, 56, the manager of the pub on Chaweng Beach, confessed after several hours of police interrogation that on Friday they conspired to shoot Polot Mehmet, 37, with a .38-caliber pistol that was found in Mehmet’s hand.

Police said they confessed that one of the guns used in the crime belonged to Kabin and the other belonged to Kanapong.

After shooting Mehmet, they put Kabin’s gun in the victim’s hand.

When they realised a security camera had captured the crime, they repositioned the camera but failed to see that the incident was captured by several other cameras.

Police said the men told them the Turkish tourist often came to the bar, got drunk, intimidated the bar’s staff and created a scene.

On Friday, they said, Mehmet got drunk and forced staff to keep the bar open. The staff pleaded with him to leave but he walked to the counter with a clearly visible pistol tucked inside his belt.

Kanapong shot him in the abdomen with his own gun and then Kabin shot him in the head with his gun. Kabin and Kanapong then tried to cover up the crime to confuse the police.

Police yesterday brought both men to the bar to re-enact the crime before detaining them at the Provincial Court.

— Phuket Gazette Editors