CHIANG RAI – On Friday, Police at Wiang Pa Pao Police Station, Chiang Rai, received a report of a man found dead with knife wounds inside a home in Ban Mai Phatthana, Wiang subdistrict, Wiang Pa Pao.
Senior officers were alerted, and a team from Wiang Pa Pao Hospital and the Sawang Wiang Pa Pao Thammasathan rescue foundation joined police at the scene. Superintendent, Pol Col Narit Koetdee, attended with investigators and the crime suppression team.
At the scene was a single-storey house. A man was found on a mattress inside, later identified as Mr Thongsuk (surname withheld), 64, of Wiang subdistrict, Wiang Pa Pao, Chiang Rai. He wore blue shorts and no shirt. He had a deep cut from a sharp object on his forehead above the left eyebrow, around 15 to 20 centimetres long.
Police Arrive at the Crime Scene
From the condition of the body, officers estimated he had died 7 to 8 hours before discovery. Police and the on-call doctor from Wiang Pa Pao Hospital examined the body and collected evidence. Rescuers then took the body to Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital for a full autopsy.
A 38-year-old man later presented himself to the police. He was identified as Mr Teera (surname withheld), 38, also from Wiang subdistrict. He gave confused statements, but admitted he assaulted Mr Thongsuk, saying jealousy over his wife’s frequent visits to the victim’s house led to the attack. The pair had argued over this on several previous occasions.
Initial enquiries with the suspect and locals suggested both the suspect and his wife had a history of drug use. They often visited the victim’s home to drink. The victim was a widower and seen as relatively well-off.
At about 8 pm on 9 October, neighbours heard the suspect and the victim arguing after the suspect’s wife went to the victim’s house.
64-Year-Old Man Found Dead in His Bed
They later dispersed. Around 10 to 11 pm, witnesses saw Mr Teera ride a bicycle to the victim’s home and heard another row. Neighbours shouted at them to stop. The noise soon faded, and no one expected it would end in death.
This morning, neighbours could not reach the victim by phone. They went to the house, saw blood at the front, and alerted community leaders and authorities. Officers then found the body on the mattress.
In a further account, the suspect said that after arguing outside the house, he produced a weapon intending to attack, and a struggle for the knife followed. He claimed he got hold of the blade and struck the victim once.
He said he then regained some composure, washed blood from the victim’s face, and laid him on the bed. The alleged weapon, a machete, was later seized by police from the suspect’s home.
Investigators are treating the confession with caution because the account was inconsistent. They are awaiting autopsy results to support the case file. Once the examination is complete, the body will be released to the family for religious rites.
Thailand has seen numerous high-profile cases of murders motivated by romantic jealousy, often referred to as “crimes of passion.” These incidents frequently involve intimate partners, ex-partners, or love rivals and are exacerbated by cultural factors like intense emotional expression, social media-fueled suspicions, and domestic violence.
Globally, jealousy drives about 82% of such crimes, and Thailand follows a similar pattern, with cases often mitigated in court as emotional provocation (potentially reducing charges from premeditated murder to manslaughter). However, Thai law does not formally recognize a “crime of passion” defense, and perpetrators face severe penalties, including the death penalty or life imprisonment for murder.
These events are reported almost daily in local media, highlighting issues like gender-based violence and mental health support gaps.
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