A French man brutally killed his two-year-old son born to a Thai woman before taking his own life in a rented condominium room in Pattaya, in Chon Buri province, police said.
After being alerted, police yesterday rushed to the six-storey Park Lane Jomtien Residence at Soi Wat Bunkanchanaram in tambon Nong Phreu of Bang Lamung district and found two bodies in a room on the fourth floor of the condominium.
One of the bodies was a boy, aged about two years old. The boy, wearing a green T-shirt and a nappy, was found dead at the door of the living room, with his head covered with a yellow plastic bag containing blood.
A blood-coated kitchen knife was found near the boy's neck and a used syringe was found near his body.
Police removed the plastic bag from the boy's head and found the victim had sustained a serious knife wound, about 10cm long, under his chin and another cut to his throat.
The victim also had serious head injuries. A milk bottle and three packs of sleeping pills were found on a desk.
In the bedroom, the naked body of a foreigner, identified later as Yonatan Kerner, 29, a French national, was found with a white plastic bag covering his head and a rubber cord fastened around his neck. A foul odour filled the air. There were no traces of struggle in the room. A long electrical wire tied to the bathroom door was broken in two.
Police believed the two might have died at least three days before their bodies were found.
According to a police investigation, three people, including the parents and the boy, lived in the room. But the mother, a Thai woman, had filed a complaint with Pattaya police three months ago, accusing her French husband of frequently assaulting her. The woman fled to her home province of Nakhon Ratchasima, leaving her two-year-old son with her husband.
A condominium maid alerted police as she smelled a foul odour coming from the room where the two bodies were found.
The officers believe Kerner might have used the syringe to inject his son with sleeping drugs before hitting the boy's head on the floor and using a knife to slash his throat. The man may later have tried to take his own life by hanging himself, but the electrical wire broke. He then used a plastic bag to cover his head and a rubber cord to fasten the bag around his neck and suffocated, investigators believe.
The officers believe the tragedy might have taken place on the evening of June 29 as CCTV footage captured images of the man taking his son to a nearby church at 2.47pm on June 29 and returning to the room at 5pm on the same day. Since then, nobody had seen them.
The bodies would be sent to the Police General Hospital for an autopsy to establish the cause of death.