CHON BURI: A 23-year-old man arrested for allegedly raping and murdering a German tourist, whose body was found covered with dry leaves under rocks on Koh Sichang on Sunday evening, has confessed to both crimes, police said.
The body of the 27-year-old German woman, whose name was withheld pending notification of her relatives, was found under a pile of rocks with multiple contusions to the skull, said Sichang police station superintendent Pol Col Angkoon Sarakul.
Police scoured the island for the murderer and arrested a man who had been seen acting suspiciously, the officer said.
A tourist looking for locations to take photos on the tourist island off Si Racha stumbled on the body and alerted the police at about 8pm on Sunday evening.
Ronnakorn Romruen, a native of Koh Sichang district, was taken for questioning. After three hours of interrogation, police said, he admitted to having murdered the tourist.
According to police, the suspect said he saw the victim riding a motorcycle on the island.
He began talking to her and asked her for sex, but was rebuffed.
He then followed her along a path leading to Phra Chulachomklao mountain and Atsadang flagpole before attacking her in woodland nearby after she noticed him behind her and tried to flee, said police.
Afraid she might alert police and identify him, he then killed her and hid the body, according to the confession he gave to officers.
Mr Ronnakorn has been charged with murder, rape and concealment of a body.
Many locals reacted angrily to his arrest upon hearing news of the crime he was accused of.
They were seen shouting insults at him while he was being escorted by the police to a ferry to cross from Koh Sichang back to Chon Buri.
Mr Ronnakorn, who works for a company handling waste on Koh Sichang, was also later charged with taking crystal methamphetamine after a second urine test confirmed the result of a preliminary one that he had used the illegal drug, deputy national police chief Pol Gen Chalermkiat Srivorakan said.
He also admitted to having taken the drug just before he spotted the victim riding alone on her motorcycle, police said.
Investigators found that the victim had taken a ferry from Si Racha district to the island at around midday on Sunday, about five hours before she was killed.
Mr Ronnakorn said he went straight home after the alleged murder and was found there when he was arrested. Bloodstained rocks and clothes were also found in his house, local police said.
