Love triangle turns deadly in Phuket

PHUKET: Police have arrested two people for the brutal stabbing murder of a Kathu town council member in a Phuket Town hotel late yesterday afternoon.

Lt Col Pitakpon Sompong said staff at the Park Inn Hotel on Luang Phor Rd contacted police at 6:30pm yesterday to report a heated argument taking place inside Room 30.

Just as police were arriving they found a man and a woman on a motorbike acting suspiciously and hurriedly preparing to leave.

They stopped the couple, later identified as Sutthika Saekhoy, 30, and Jeerawat Chainakin, 31.

Under questioning the couple confessed to murdering 42-year-old Wassana Chaiyarab, a member of Kathu Municipality.

Inside the room, the police found Mr Wassana’s body lying on the floor next to the bed with a deep knife wound to the left side of his chest. Blood stains covered the walls of the room as well as the bathroom.

A round length of iron found at the scene was also collected as evidence by police.

A hotel staff member who identified himself as ‘Chumphon’ told the Gazette the couple arrived at the hotel at about 5:30pm. Mr Wassana arrived about 15 minutes later.

“I heard an argument from inside the room that lasted about 10 minutes before suddenly turning quiet. I reported this to the hotel owner, who called police,” he said.

Under police questioning Ms Sutthika said she once had a relationship with Mr Wassana and gave birth to twin children fathered by him before they broke up.

— Pimwara Choksakulpan