No breakthrough in latest dig at doctor's farm
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In their 13th excavation at the Phetchaburi ranch of police doctor Pol Colonel Suphat Laohawatthana, police yesterday found only a shredded white T-shirt.
The three-hour dig was halted at noon, because the existing court order does not allow police to excavate anywhere else at the ranch. The parents of missing husband and wife Samart Noomjui and Orasa Kerdsab were present at the excavation, joined by several Buddhist monks who conducted a ceremony they believed would aid in the search for the couple’s bodies.
Two Myanmar workers interviewed by police were not present during yesterday’s dig, despite earlier statements from police that their accounts should lead to the graves of the two missing persons. The site for yesterday’s excavation was selected because it looked like an old well that had been filled in, police said.
Ake Laohawatthana, a son of Suphat, yesterday visited his father at Phetchaburi provincial prison. He later said that Suphat was in good condition and that the two had discussed how to fight a number of allegations including premeditated murder, after skeletal remains at the ranch were found to be those of a Myanmar worker allegedly killed by the police doctor.
Ake said he was somewhat satisfied with police’s agreeing to assign officers from the Crime Suppression Division to assist Tha Mai Ruak police in Phetchaburi, after police ruled out a wholesale replacement of local officers by other investigators.
