Man Arrested in Bangkok for Rape and Strangulation of his 19 Year-old Stepdaughter

 

BANGKOK – Metropolitan Police have reported that a 34-year-old Thai man has confessed to strangling his 19-year-old stepdaughter to death as she resisted his attempt to rape her at a house in the Thonburi district of Bangkok.

Officers from Metropolitan Police Division 8 arrested Thotsaphon Promchart on Friday night after reviewing closed-circuit television images of him walking around the house in the Talad Plu area between 1 and 3am on the day the young woman was found dead.

Thitikarn ‘Nong May’ Rattanauthaiwong, 19, a college student in Thon Buri, was found dead in her bedroom on Friday morning. She was lying naked with bruises on her face and traces of strangulation around her neck. Some pubic hair was found on her bed. Her mobile phone was in the house but her wallet was missing. Police collected pubic hair and other evidence for DNA testing.

Officers said that after intense police interrogation, Mr Thotsaphon admitted having killed his stepdaughter. He told them he had drunk some beer and taken methamphetamine before driving his pickup truck and parking in front of Therd Thai Soi 22 in the Talad Plu area at around 1.30am on Friday. From there he walked to the three-storey house where Thitikarn lived and used a key to open the door before going to her bedroom on the third floor.

Police said he claimed the rape attempt was unsuccessful as the victim fought back. During the struggle, they said, he strangled her to death. He then used a towel to cover his head and left the house at around 3am.

A police investigation found that Mr Thotsaphon then drove back to his room in the Lat Phrao area of Bangkok where he lived with Maprang Trikul, 40, the victim’s mother, and their five-month-old baby boy. Later that morning he left for work as a technician at a hotel in the Pathumwan area as usual.

Police who brought Mr Thotsaphon for a crime re-enactment on Saturday morning struggled to prevent angry relatives of the victim from assaulting him. Scuffles broke out as he was being escorted away from the crime scene and he managed to dive into the back of a police car. He was charged with murder and taking illicit drugs. The officers are awaiting DNA results before pressing additional charges.

Thaweeyot Rattanauthaiwong, 53, the father of the victim, told police he lived in another house but had rented the house in Talad Plu for his daughter and son to stay in. There were also two other men living in the house — his son’s friend and his daughter’s boyfriend.

Panpiti Charoenlarp, 19, the victim’s boyfriend, said that he had picked up Thitikarn from a steak shop where she had a part-time job, and brought her to her house at around 11pm on Thursday. He then went to his father’s house in the Ekkachai area to ask for some money before returning to see his girlfriend on Friday morning. Her room was not locked and he found her lying dead inside.

Source: Bangkok Post