Another homeless man was slain in Bangkok's Bung Kum district Monday morning, the sixth in less than two months, even though a Myanmar man was arrested for allegedly killing four of them earlier.
The bloody body was found lying naked on one side, showing deep cuts in the head and blood stains on the mouth and nose, in front of a deserted shophouse at the entrance of Navamin 92 Road. Clothes believed to belong to the victim was found nearby with 240 baht in cash.
Duangporn Surattananthaluk, a 45-year-old local motorcyclist, said the homeless man appeared to be mentally ill but was able to communicate. He had stayed there for about five months.
The motorcyclist said she and other local residents often gave him food and money. The man, who was shirtless sometimes, was no threat to other people and she wondered why he had been assaulted, Mrs Duangporn said.
The death followed the Bangkok police chief's order for checks on homeless people in the capital so protection could be given to them after five homeless people and scavengers had been found dead in Bangkok and Pathum Thani province in the past month.
Early this month, police arrested a 20-year-old homeless Myanmar man called Jimmy for allegedly murdering four of them.
The suspect denied all charges although police said DNA results matched his. Jimmy was detained in Pathum Thani's Thanyaburi district. He had reportedly entered Thailand illegally and rode from Tak province to Bangkok on a bicycle.