PATHUM THANI - A Cambodian suspect has been caught for allegedly stabbing to death a woman at her home in Khlong Luang district on Sunday.
Thanapornpan Sangprasit, 47, who sold vegetables at the Talat Thai wholesale fresh market, was found dead with multiple stab wounds on the torso and chest in front of her house in tambon Khlong Nueng at 2pm on Sunday.
A blood-stained long knife was found nearby with blood trails leading inside the house. There were also signs of forced entry and her bedroom was ransacked.
Pathum Thani police on Monday arrested Touch Vuthy, 30, of Cambodian nationality, on the charge of aggravated robbery resulting in the deaths of others.
Pol Maj Gen Thanayut Vutthicharasthamrong, deputy chief of Police Region 1, said at a briefing that three days earlier Thanapornpan had fired Mr Touch, which might be the motive of the murder.
After Thanapornpan reached home on Sunday, she talked on the phone with a relative, who later told police he heard her say: "Why are you hurting me?” and was alarmed by the silence that followed.
Camera footage nearby showed a man running out of the house and climbing up the wall of the housing estate.
Police found the suspect was Mr Touch, her former employee.
After the incident, Mr Touch allegedly hitchhiked a motorcycle to Talat Aiyara and got into a taxi.
Upon receiving the arrest warrant, police found him in Aranyaprathet district, Sa Kaeo province.
Mr Touch allegedly confessed to stabbing Thanapornpan. He reportedly said he had been enraged by her verbal abuse and her firing him. On that day, he allegedly brought the knife with him and climbed up the wall into her house, intending to steal valuables. However, the victim found him while he was searching the house so he stabbed her.
He allegedly was trying to cross the border to Cambodia when he was caught.
Police took him to re-enact the crime at 10.40am on Monday.