A husband and wife stabbed each other to death in a bloody melee at a tutoring school in Bangkok’s Min Buri district overnight, police said on Wednesday.
The husband was free on bail after an earlier knife attack on his wife, and his court trial was due to begin next Thursday.
The gruesome double death was discovered around 7am by a security guard at the housing estate where the tutoring school is located.
Police called to the scene said the dead couple were found in a classroom on the third floor in a large pool of blood. There were signs of a wild struggle with overturned desks and chairs. Bloodied footprints were found all over the room floor.
The woman, identified as 44-year-old Amporn Pathumma, was working as a cleaner at the tutoring school. She was lying dead, face up on the floor, stabbed to death. Her 49-year-old husband, Chanasin Pathumma, was found dead lying across her body. There was a 12-inch kitchen knife stuck in his neck.
The forensic police and a doctor estimated they had been dead about six hours before their bodies were found.
The security guard who found them, Saenguthai Chonthep, told police he saw a man and a woman go into the school early on Tuesday evening. Later, around 9pm, he noticed the school lights were still on, which was quite unusual. They were normally turned off after the maid finished cleaning the place.
He decided not to get involved as there were two people inside the building. The next morning, he saw the lights still on inside the school, and the door was not locked. He went inside to investigate.
Mr Saenguthai said he called out to see if anyone was there, but was met with silence so he decided to check each floor. The morning turned to horror when he arrived on the third floor and came upon the two bodies on the blood-strewn floor.
Natsaran Papamai, sister of the dead woman, said the couple had been together for over 20 years. The husband was an alcoholic who had injured his wife several times. In March, he had attacked her with a knife and she had needed 100 stitches to close her wounds.
Chanasin was arrested but later allowed bail when he decided to fight the case in court. His trial was due to start next Thursday, she said.
The tutoring school has been open for at least 10 years with classes in the evening every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Normally, another woman was paid to clean the school, but she was on leave so Amporn had replaced her.