Two suspects who hid the body of a two-year-old toddler in a fridge on Saturday have been charged over the boy’s death, police from Bang Bua Thong station said on Monday.
The suspects, Harnnarong “Bank” Praiphanom, 31, a friend of the boy’s father, and his wife, Marisa “Koi” Thong-iam, 25, were accused of failing to report to the police the child's death and concealing the body.
Mr Harnnarong was also accused of drug offences, said the police.
The pair were sent to the Nonthaburi Provincial Court yesterday for further testimony.
The dead child’s parents told police that the hired they couple to look after the boy as they did not have time to do so themselves.
Mr Harnnarong has insisted on his innocence, referring to the autopsy’s results that confirmed the boy died from choking on sticky rice.
Mr Harnnarong’s grandmother and sister did not apply for his bail, as they were concerned about his hot-tempered personality.
Meanwhile, Ms Marisa’s mother believed that the two suspects would never intentionally kill the boy, saying that they both loved the child. She said that the suspects were not involved with any narcotic drugs at the time.
Ms Marisa was reportedly with the sleeping toddler earlier on Jan 2 and then woke up to find the child was dead. She noticed ants near his eyes and hands and sticky rice in his mouth. She claimed that when her husband returned home, he placed the dead boy’s body in the refrigerator.
On Saturday, police, forensic officials, rescue workers, and a medical team were called to a housing estate on Rattanathibet Road, where they found the body of a boy stuffed inside a refrigerator in a bedroom of a two-story townhouse. Police had been alerted due to a foul odour coming from inside the house.
The autopsy results on Sunday confirmed that the boy did choke to death on sticky rice, as claimed by both suspects.
However, the boy’s aunts said that they did not believe in the autopsy results, and they claimed that the boy was seen to have many bruises on his body.
The boy’s body was cremated on Monday at Wat Phai Luang in the Bang Bua Thong district of Nonthaburi.