SURAT THANI: A 36-year-old man has been detained on suspicion of murdering a man whom he believed was wooing his recently widowed mother, and then attempting to hide the body.
Police and rescue workers responded to a reported murder at a single-storey concrete house in Wiang Sa district on Saturday morning. When they arrived their attention was directed to a pickup truck cap discarded in the yard.
Beneath the structure, they discovered the body of 47-year-old Sayan Lathawanit. It was wrapped in a bloodstained sack, and there was a significant head wound.
Officers arrested the suspect, identified only as Suriyong, at the scene.
According to investigators, Mr Suriyong was unhappy about Sayan’s relationship with his mother and his frequent visits to their home. He waited for the man next to an outdoor bathroom and attacked him with an axe before trying to conceal the body.
Local residents eventually found the body and alerted the authorities.
Mr Suriyong’s aunt, whose name was withheld, told police that her nephew had recently been under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs and misunderstood that the victim was flirting with his mother, whose husband died on May 1.
According to the suspect’s mother, Mr Suriyong had been detained 14 times for drug use. In January he was released from prison after serving a four-year sentence for drug offences. She said she and her daughter had to seek refuge at their relatives’ house at times because her son’s behaviour frightened them.
During questioning, the suspect confessed to the crimes and will face legal action, police said.