Police rethink death of Burmese woman

THALANG: Police are looking more closely into the death of a young Burmese woman found buried in a shallow grave in a rubber plantation near Baan Manik Mountain in Tambon Srisoonthorn two days ago. The woman was originally reported to have died of malaria and to have been buried secretly by her family. But Pol Col Prapakorn Saksupa, Superintendent of Thalang Police Station, told the Gazette today that, following further autopsy results from Thalang Hospital, the police now believe the woman died from a blow, or blows, to the head. “We will have to investigate further. She may have been hit by someone or she may have hurt her head in a fall. We are currently looking for her brother, a legal rubber worker, who came to pick up her body yesterday,” Col Prapakorn added. The colonel’s remarks came after the Gazette received a visit today from Kamnan Kittisak Sodraksa of the Srisoonthorn Tambon Council, who wanted to relate the whole story as he saw it. He told the Gazette that, two days ago, one of the villagers went to fix a pipe carrying water from Manik Mountain to the village. His dog started barking, so he went to investigate and found a woman’s pants and underwear rolling up together, a boot, a burned catalog and a partly burned brassiere lying on the ground. Taking care not to touch anything, the villager returned and fetched Kamnan Kittisak who went to the scene with eight more villagers, whom he advised not to touch anything. “The first thing I found was an area of grass which looked like it had been flattened by a body. There was a white hair comb and dried blood around the place where the head had been. I also found worms on the drops of blood. “Not too far away, I found the woman’s orange pants and red underwear, rolled together, and a homemade rifle with a broken stock. “In the area, I also found a patch of burnt grass around a half-burnt bra, along with a purse, cosmetics, a catalog and some cloth. There was also a rice wine bottle that was unburnt,” Kamnan Kittisak explained. Twenty meters away from the burnt area, Kamnan Kittisak saw a mound covered with wild banana leaves and trees. “I believe that they tried to hide the mound with banana leaves,” he said. “I don’t think it was because of some Burmese tradition, as was reported.” A scoop basket, a mattock and a shovel were also found in the area, he said. Police, summoned to the site, dug up the mound and found the body of the young woman, aged about 19 or 20, on Monday afternoon. She has yet to be identified.