A 66-year-old man was found dead on Wednesday following a brutal assault that was captured by CCTV cameras in Trat.
Police have arrested a 32-year-old suspect, who was caught on camera committing the assault and loading the victim onto a motorcycle sidecar before fleeing.
Boonyu Samjai was walking for exercise around 5.30pm on Tuesday when he was approached by a man riding a Honda PCX motorcycle.
Police said the man, later identified as Withawat “Mos” Tanghu, confronted Mr Boonyu before a brief argument escalated into violence. CCTV shows the suspect punching the victim before grabbing a wooden stick and repeatedly striking him over the head.
Police said the suspect briefly rode away before returning with a bamboo pole, which he used to strike the victim several more times as the elderly man lay motionless on the ground.
Investigators said the suspect then drove to his nearby durian orchard, returned in a blue motorcycle sidecar, loaded the unconscious victim onto the vehicle and drove away.
Officers later searched the suspect’s orchard, about 750 metres from the scene, where they found bloodstains, a handgun and a shotgun, but no sign of the victim.
Rescue divers were also called in to search a nearby pond after investigators suspected the victim’s body might have been disposed of there.
Police arrested Withawat at 11.05pm on Tuesday.
During questioning, the suspect denied disposing of the victim’s body, claiming instead that Boonyu had jumped from the sidecar.
Investigators said he gave inconsistent statements and refused to reveal where he had abandoned the vehicle.
At 10.10am on Wednesday, police found Boonyu’s naked body in a rubber plantation about 1.8 kilometres from the scene of the assault.
Authorities later recovered the submerged sidecar from the Ta Kad reservoir in neighbouring Huai Raeng subdistrict, about 5.8km from where the body was found.
Police are continuing to investigate the motive for the attack. Investigators are looking into reports indicating the suspect had a history of involvement with drugs.
