Thai man arrested for killing and robbing Phuket tour guide
Murder sparks safety fears in shopping centre car parks
Police arrested a Thai man who attempted to flee from Phuket to Phang Nga province after killing a female tour guide and robbing her.
The family of the victim, 56 year old Orrathai, reported her missing to Wichit Police Station on November 7. Orrathai had left home for work that morning and never returned.
According to her family, Orrathai usually parked her bronze Nissan sedan car at a shopping mall in the Ratsada sub-district before travelling to her workplace in a welfare vehicle with colleagues. In the evening, she would return to the mall, retrieve her car and drive home.
On the day of her disappearance, Orrathai went to work as usual but failed to return home that evening. Her car was also missing from the mall’s car park. Alongside reporting her disappearance to the police, the family circulated missing person posters online.
Police examined CCTV footage from the car park and identified a suspicious man, later named as 43 year old Jirasak.
The footage showed Orrathai arriving at her car at around 5pm. She entered the driver’s seat, while Jirasak quickly got into the car through the rear left door. The car remained parked for about two hours before being driven away.
Yesterday, police received a report of Orrathai’s car being found outside an abandoned house on Thep Kasattri Road in the Ratsada area of Phuket. Officers rushed to the scene and discovered Orrathai’s body inside the vehicle.
Police later tracked down Jirasak while he was driving a grey Isuzu pickup truck on Bypass Road near the Bang Ku Intersection. He was arrested as the prime suspect and taken to the police station for questioning.
Jirasak confessed to killing Orrathai by following her to the car, sneaking to enter the vehicle, and strangling her. He then drove away in the victim’s vehicle and stole her belongings, including a gold necklace, a mobile phone and a gold-framed amulet.
He sold the gold items at a jewellery shop for 48,420 baht before abandoning both the car and the body outside the abandoned house. He then attempted to escape from Phuket to Phang Nga but was apprehended before he could do so.
Police have yet to confirm the exact charges to be filed against Jirasak but the case shocked residents, who are now warning one another to be more vigilant when parking at shopping centres.
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