NONG KHAI: A Lao worker was arrested on Tuesday after three people, including his wife, were fatally stabbed and another man wounded at a rubber plantation in Sri Chiang Mai district on Monday.
The suspect was named as Ron Wansena, 38, a rubber worker residing at Saphan Phud village in tambon Phra Phutthabat of Sri Chiang Mai.
Police arrested Mr Ron in a roadside forest in Pho Tak district after local residents reported seeing a stranger acting suspiciously.
Pol Col Santi Boonchu, chief of Sri Chiang Mai police, told Thai media the suspect told investigators he and his wife had been hired by the plantation owner, Songkran, to cut and clear grass from around the rubber trees.
He noticed his employer, Songkran, kept looking at him.
Around 3pm on Monday, he took a break for a drink of water and Songkran sat down not far from him with a knife in his hand.
He grew fearful of the way the man was acting, and feared he would be attacked. So he grabbed his own knife and drove it into the man's chest, twice.
His wife saw what happened and screamed. He feared someone would hear her and come to investigate, so he stabbed her too, twice, and she died.
As he walked away to get a motorcycle and flee he saw another two men arriving on a motorcycle. He attacked and killed the driver with the knife and also attacked the pillion rider, who fought back. He fled away. (continues below)
Ambulance workers collect the bodies of the three dead victims, two men and a woman, at a rubber plantation in Sri Sang Khom district of Nong Khai on Tuesday morning. The prime suspect, the dead woman's husband, was later arrested.(Photo: Nong Khai charity association, Prachak Siew Tek Tueng rescue team Facebook page)
Police laid initial charges of murder, attempted murder and possession of a knife in a public place. He was taken back to the scene for a re-enactment on Tuesday afternoon.
The Nong Khai police chief, Pol Maj Gen Kittisak Chamrasprasert, led investigators and local officials to the scene, near Saphan Phud village, on Monday.
The first victim they found was a man identified only as Sorawit, 43, dead in the rubber plantation from knife wounds. About 300 metres away, were two more bodies, a woman and another man, also with knife wounds. The woman was identified as Jaruwan, 44, and the man as Songkran, 47, the owner of the plantation.
The woman's husband was the suspected killer, Thai media reported. A blood-soaked knife was found at the scene.
Another man, Anuchin, 31, Sorawit's nephew, also suffered knife wounds and was rushed to hospital.
Mr Anuchin told police that he and his uncle Sorawit heard a woman shouting for help in the plantation. Sorawit’s wife asked them to go and see what was wrong. They initially thought the woman might have been bitten by a snake.
They went out on his uncle's motorcycle cycle and came across the suspect, Mr Ron, standing amongst the trees.
Mr Anuchin said Mr Ron did not speak, just walked towards them and then attacked his uncle with a knife.
Mr Anuchin said the man then attacked him. He tried to grab the knife and fought back, but was stabbed. His attacker fled.
Pol Maj Gen Kittisak said teams had been formed to hunt the suspect down. He was captured later on Tuesday morning.
The investigation into the motive for the attacks was continuing.