4th suspect surrenders to police
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Suthipong denies strangling tycoon; victim 'was dead' when he saw him
Suthipong “Berm” Pimpisal, the fourth suspect in the murder of businessman Akeyuth Anchanbutr, surrendered yesterday but denied that he had strangled Akeyuth with a shoelace.
Suthipong was earlier implicated by Akeyuth’s chauffeur, Santiparb Pengduang, of having strangled Akeyuth.
Santiparb and two other suspects – Thiwakorn Kuathong and Chawalit Woonchum – have been arrested. Police yesterday obtained the Criminal Court’s permission to further detain the three suspects for investigation.
Suthipong surrendered at the Metropolitan Police head office after which police took Santiparb to the head office to identify Suthipong.
Suthipong told police investigators that he had not killed Akeyuth. He said when he entered the van, he found that Akeyuth had already been killed. Suthipong said Santiparb then told him to tie a shoelace around Akeyuth’s neck.
Earlier, Santiparb told police that Suthipong had strangled Akeyuth out of anger that the businessman had tried to escape.
Santiparb told reporters yesterday that he would like to apologise to Akeyuth’s family. He said he did not intend to kill Akeyuth and he planned to flee after splitting the money with his friends but Suthipong strangled the businessman.
Following the court’s approval, Santiparb, Thiwakorn and Chawalit were taken for detention to Bangkok Remand Prison at 2pm.
Suchart Wongananchai, the director-general of the Corrections Department, said he had instructed prison officials to closely monitor the three suspects and to check their food for their safety.
Suchart said inmates, who have been appointed as assistant guards, would closely monitor the three to prevent them from being harmed.
Thiwakorn and Chawalit were detained at Hua Mark Police Station’s detention cell on Thursday night while Santiparb was detained at Wang Thonglang Police Station. A police officer has been assigned to sleep in Santiparb’s detention cell to prevent him from committing suicide.
Meanwhile, in Nakhon Si Thammarat, eight scuba divers were dispatched to comb the bed of Klong Praek River mouth in Hua Sai district. The suspects claimed they had dropped Akeyuth’s gold necklace, gold ring and watch at the river mouth, however scuba divers found nothing yesterday.
