The Phuket provincial court has allowed police to detain the accused murderer of a Swiss woman tourist for 12 more days, while they prepare their case against him.
Teerawat Thothip had been held in the Vichit police station cells in Muang district. After the court hearing he was to be taken to the provincial prison in Thalang district, where he will stay for the next 12 days.
The 27-year-old man was charged on Sunday with the murder and robbery of Nicole Sauvain-Weisskopf, 57, at Ton Ao Yon waterfall on Tuesday last week. Her body was found at the falls by villagers on Thursday.
Mr Teerawat allegedly confessed to the charges on Sunday, but police said on Monday they were still compiling evidence before presenting the case to public prosecutors for indictment.
He was again interrogated at the police station on Monday. Some of his friends were also called in for questioning about the suspect. A doctor from Vachira Phuket Hospital was present and took further samples from him for DNA and other tests.
His wife, whose name was not released, arrived at the police station and handed over the clothes Mr Teerawat wore on the day Sauvain-Weisskopf was slain. She left without talking to reporters.
Pol Maj Gen Saksira Phuek-am, deputy chief of the Provincial Police Region 8 office, said after the interrogation that the autopsy of the victim’s body was still underway.
He said police were confident the evidence they had against the suspect and accounts from witnesses would be enough to secure a conviction, even if he changed his mind and entered a not guilty plea in court.
Mr Teerawat allegedly said on Sunday he had intended to rob the victim. When she resisted he strangled her from behind.
The murder is a major blow to the government’s attempts to draw foreign visitors back to Phuket under its sandbox scheme for fully vaccinated travellers.- Bangkok Post
