SAMUT SAKHON - A 36-year-old man allegedly slashed the throat of his teen stepdaughter in a rented dormitory room in Muang district on Thursday morning before attempting unsuccessfully to take his own life.
The murder occurred at a dormitory in tambon Bang Nam Jued, said Pol Capt Chamnong Noeikham, a duty officer at Ban Nam Jued police station. It was reported around 6am on Thursday.
Police and rescue workers found the suspect inside his rented room where his stepdaughter, a 17-year-old college student, was killed, Thai media reported.
The officers tried to persuade him to surrender, but the man used a knife to slash his throat in a bid to commit suicide.
The man, identified later as Adirek Jaksarn, 36, survived and was taken to hospital.
Police inspected the room and found the blood-soaked body of the female teenager inside the room, covered with a blanket.
She suffered two deep cuts to the throat and 13 stab wounds -- eight in the back, two to the face and three in the stomach.
Police found a knife and a pair of bloody scissors in the room. There were no indications of rape on her body, but police found evidence of a struggle inside the victim’s room, opposite the suspect’s.
The tearful mother of the victim (whose name was withheld) alleged the attacker was Mr Adirek, the girl's stepfather.
She had decided to end her relationship with him seven months ago after learning that he physically assaulted her daughter. The man then moved out of her room but rented another room in the same dormitory. She had since lived in the room with her daughter.
She left her room for work at 4.30am every day and locked the door every time. She did not know what happened between her ex-husband and her daughter, or why her daughter was slain in his room.
Thammanat Chanthungthong, 62, caretaker of the dormitory, said he and other tenants heard a woman shouting for help. They rushed to the room, but it was locked. He used a lever to force open the wooden door, but not wide enough to get inside the room.
Through the narrow opening, he claimed he saw Mr Adirek with a body covered with a blanket in front of the bathroom. He immediately called police.