CHUMPHON: Police on Friday arrested a 26-year-old man and charged him with murdering and robbing a 56-year-old woman in a toilet at a Tesco Lotus store in Muang district on Wednesday.
Pol Lt Gen Sorasak Yenprem, commissioner of the Provincial Police Region 8, said Ronakorn Supamongkhonlert, a native of Ratchaburi province, stabbed Tasanee Chaisri to death with a fruit knife and made off with her 2 baht-weight gold necklace.
The victim, the wife of a fishing trawler operator, was in the toilet for the disabled.
Her husband had dropped her at the store while he went to keep a doctor's appointment.
She was also wearing a 2 baht gold bracelet, but he fled without stealing it when someone else came to the restroom in response to her cries for help, he said.
The suspect visited Chumphon to see his mother, and went to the store to rob anyone who appeared to have valuables he could steal and use to clear his gambling debts, Pol Lt Gen Sorasak said.
He said the suspect had previously served two years in jail for a murder committed when he was 16 years old.
Media reports said Ronakorn had shot dead a student friend.
