Pregnant woman slain by monk

BURI RAM: A pregnant woman was stabbed to death by a monk she was allegedly trying to blackmail after having an affair with him, police said.

Pol Capt Suriya Leenuwat, deputy investigation chief of Hin Lek Fai police station in Khu Mueang district, said the fatal stabbing occurred on a road near Ban Mai Charoensuk in tambon Tum Yai on Monday afternoon.

Eyewitnesses told investigators that Phra Um Deeruenrom, 59, the abbot of Wat Ban Nong Bua in tambon Tum Yai, was driving a van and he intentionally collided head-on with a pickup travelling towards him. 

The pickup was driven by Thampaphon, a member of a tambon administration organisation (TAO), who was accompanied by his wife, Lampai, 36, who was eight months pregnant.

The two vehicles collided head-on and were badly damaged.

After the collision, the woman got out of the pickup and ran away. The monk chased her, holding a knife with a long handle, ran her down and stabbed her. She sustained two deep wounds to her head and another to her right wrist, and died at the scene.

Her body was taken to hospital. Her baby also died.

Lampai's husband, Thampaphon, was injured in the collision.

The abbot was later arrested at a relative's house in the village. Police said he admitted to the crime, but refused to reveal the motive. 

However, villagers told police he had an affair with Lampai, who had called him many times, demanding money and threatening to expose him.

The monk was expelled from the temple and then charged with premeditated murder and carrying a weapon in public. The slain woman's surname was withheld by police.

The pickup which was rammed head-on by a monk driving a van, who then stabbed the pregnant passenger to death, in Buri Ram's Khu Muang district. (Photo: Surachai Piragsa)