Father killed in bid to save couple wired for death

PHUKET: A Phuket man was killed while trying to revive his son and his son’s girlfriend who were electrocuted in what police say may have been a bizarre ‘murder-suicide’.

Police in Phuket Town said Jitti Choowong arrived home last Friday night to find his son Ekalak and his girlfriend dead on the floor of the home they shared in Rassada.

Mr Jitti tried to revive the couple, but they were still connected to an electric cable which was plugged into a wall socket, and he too was electrocuted.

Paramedics tried to revive the 67-year-old Jitti using a defibrillator, but were unable to save him.

Investigators are now trying to work out whether electrician Ekalak Choowong, 26, and his girlfriend, Sunaree Kaewjaipaa, 20, died as a result of a suicide pact, or a bizarre murder-suicide in which Ekalak murdered Sunaree and then killed himself.

Inspector Krurkrit Rit-nueang of Phuket City Police said a suicide note, signed by Mr Ekalak, was found beside the dead bodies.

“In the letter he said Sunaree didn’t care about his feelings and didn’t take care of him properly,” Inspector Krurkrit said.

Ekalak’s mother, Saykaew Choowong, who also lived in the house, said her son and his girlfriend had been arguing the night before they died.

She said she and Mr Jitti went out around midday on Friday and returned about 10pm to find their front door locked.

She said her husband called out to their son but there was no reply, so he went around to the back of the house and climbed in over a back gate.

Mrs Saykaew said her husband screamed out a few minutes later. When she went in to investigate, she found him on the floor near the back door, writhing in pain.

The dead bodies of her son Ekalak and Sunaree were also on the floor, tied together with the bare wire that carried Thailand’s standard 220V of electricity, she said.

Mrs Saykaew said she pulled the plug out of the socket and shouted for help.

Police are continuing their investigations into the deaths.

— Dan Waites & Atchaa Khamlo