PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN: A Myanmar man accused of murdering a karaoke hostess admitted he raped and strangled her in a fit of anger after she refused to stay overnight with him, police said on Saturday.
Wae Khuewae, 40, who works at a rubber plantation in Bang Saphan district, was apprehended at his living quarters on Saturday morning, two days after the death of Prakarak Promkhot.
The 22-year-old waitress at the Tawan Daeng karaoke bar was found dead in a hotel room on Oct 27. A hotel maid found her lying naked in the room with severe bruises on her neck.
Police said Mr Wae told them through an interpreter that he had been drinking beer at the karaoke bar on Wednesday night. He said he approached the victim about having sex and that she agreed to spend a night with him at the hotel for 1,800 baht.
Police said the suspect told them that the two had sex before the woman asked him for another 500 baht to buy speed pills. He gave her the money and she returned shortly afterward with three pills.
He said she offered him one pill but he refused and asked to have sex again instead. At that point, she received a phone call, which the suspect thought might be from her boyfriend. After that, she told him she did not want to stay overnight.
According to police, the suspect grew angry and the pair quarrelled before he raped her. As she cried out for help, he repeatedly strangled her until she stopped moving, they said.
The suspect told police he was shocked by what had happened and fled back to his living quarters. He said he did not try to escape as he felt sorry about what he had done.
The suspect said he had been a soldier in Myanmar and had killed people, but had never killed a woman before, police said.
Police on Saturday took Mr Wae for a crime re-enactment at the karaoke bar and then at the hotel room. Fifty officers escorted him to prevent angry relatives and local residents, numbering over 100, from assaulting him.