Salesman strangles pregnant girlfriend

KATHU: A salesman turned himself in to the Tung Tong Police after strangling to death his pregnant girlfriend, a former newspaper reporter who had turned to prostitution.

Pol Lt Col Passakorn Sonthikul of the Tung Tong Police told the Gazette that Phuket native Jirasak Noosonkaew, 27, turned himself in at the Ketho Police Box at around 1 pm on August 17.

Leading officers back to his nearby apartment, he showed them the body of his long-term girlfriend, identified as 25-year-old Haad Yai native Saowanee Maneechote. Around her body, which was bruised about the neck, were many shards of broken glass, the detritus of a violent argument between the couple before her death.

Jirasak confessed to having killed K. Saowanee, but said it was an accident. He told police that K. Saowanee, whom he described as his wife (mia), had once worked as a reporter for a newspaper in Haad Yai, but was working as a prostitute at the time of her death.

He said he was not sure whether he was the father of the unborn child, but stressed that he had been prepared to raise it as his own, no matter who had sired it.

On the morning of her death, K. Jirasak became furious when he learned that K. Saowanee had tried to abort the unborn child.

The ensuing argument, the last of a long line, quickly turned violent, with Jirasak “squeezing” the victim’s neck until she passed out. Thinking she was only unconscious, he left the apartment. When he returned he found her lifeless on the floor, so walked to the police box to turn himself in.

Police have charged Jirasak with causing death by inflicting injury, but without intent, a charge punishable with imprisonment of three to 15 years.

He was offered bail, but his relatives were unable to raise sufficient collateral and he remains in custody at Phuket Provincial Prison.