Couple charged with murdering Japanese man

22 ตุลาคม 2557

Woman & taxi driver husband accused of killing Yoshinori Katsuo, 79, withdrawing 700,000 baht from his bank account, chopping his body into pieces & throwing it in a canal.

Police in Samut Prakan recovered two bags containing human body parts, including intestines a head and hands, believed to be from missing Japanese man Yoshinori Shimato. Taxi driver Somchai Kaewbangyang and his wife Pornchanok Chaiyapa have been charged with the premeditated murder of the 79-year-old. (Photos by Sutthiwit Chayutvoraken)

[Latest: At about 1pm Wednesday, divers found another bag containing human organs at the same location, near a bridge across the Khlong Nang Thim canal by Assumption University's Bang Na campus off Bang Na-Trat Road.]

CRIME

Couple charged with murdering Japanese man

22/10/2014
Sutthiwit Chayutworakan

Police today charged a Samut Prakan province couple with the premeditated murder of a 79-year-old Japanese man missing since Sept 21.

Pornchanok Chaiyapa, 47, and her taxi driver husband Somchai Kaewbangyang are accused of killing Yoshinori Shimato, chopping up his body and dropping his remains into Khlong Nang Tim canal in Bang Bo district.

Both suspects reportedly confessed to the murder and Pol Lt Gen Srivara Rangsipramanakul, acting commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said divers Monday found bags of remains as described in Mr Somchai's confession.

The acting commissioner quoted the taxi driver as admitting that on Sept 21 he and his wife - who had been Shimato's occasional companion -- had taken Shimato to Bang Na 2 Hospital in Bang Sao Thong district before taking him to their house in the Orchid Villa housing estate in the same district.

The old man had been drowsy and the couple chopped him up and placed his body parts in four bags with sand and sunk them in the canal. Divers found two bags Monday night and are continuing their search for the other two.

Pol Lt Gen Srivara said that the couple were charged with premeditated murder and relatives of Mr Tetsuo and DNA tests would confirm later whether the human organs were dismembered parts of Mr Shimato.

After Mr Shimato's disappearance, police alleged Mrs Pornchanok had used the victim's ATM card to withdraw altogether 700,000 baht. She had been arrested on theft charges and released on 100,000 baht bail. But both she and Mr Somchai were detained Monday under martial law in connection with Mr Shimato's disappearance.

Mr Shimato was the second elderly Japanese man to die during a relationship with Mrs Pornchanok. She previously was married to another Japanese man who died in 2003 after falling down the stairs.

Bang Sao Thong police ruled the death an accident, but relatives suspected foul play motivated by the Japanese man's life insurance policy. Both the former and current Japanese lover suffered from heart disease, police said.

Mrs Pornchanok has been known under three different names during the past decade and also had an outstanding arrest warrant on fraud charges.