CHUMPHON: The 26-year-old alleged robber-murderer who preyed on the innocent to clear gambling debts said during re-enactment Saturday that he had to stab the woman he was robbing because she resisted and called for help.
Senior provincial authorities, including the provincial governor, observed the re-enactment of the murder at the Tesco Lotus store in Muang district Saturday. There, Ronakorn Supamongkollert showed how he allegedly killed Tasanee Chaisri, 56, in a toilet for people with disabilities at the store on Wednesday.
"I have found Mrs Tasanee wearing a necklace and ornaments. I took the opportunity when she was entering a toilet. Then I followed her to rob her but she resisted, fought and called for help. So I stabbed her," he said.
Tasanee, wife of a trawler owner, was stabbed twice with a fruit knife in her chest and had deep cuts on the left-hand fingers.
Earlier reports said Mr Ronakorn lived in Ratchaburi province and visited his mother in Chumphon during the Songkran holiday. He planned a robbery to clear gambling debt and was looking for a well-to-do victim at the Tesco Lotus store throughout Wednesday afternoon.
After the murder, the suspect stole a motorcycle and fled the store to a relative's house in tambon Wang Phai of Muang district and returned to Ratchaburi. His relative brought him to police on Friday.
Mr Ronakorn had been jailed for two years when he shot dead a fellow student when he was 16 years old.
