54-year-old woman was arrested and charged by police on Tuesday with murdering her 29-year old daughter Chonthira Jindawong at her home in the Bang Khan district of Nakhon Si Thammarat on April 11th with a screwdriver. The woman had told investigating police that her daughter was killed by an intruder who broke in through a window located 3 metres above ground.
A 54-year-old Thai woman, arrested and charged with the murder of her 29-year-old daughter over what police claim was a premeditated murder linked to land, has strongly denied any culpability in her daughter’s death.
Police in Nakhon Si Thammarat, however, revealed on Thursday that they were confident of their case against the 54-year-old Thai woman who was arrested on foot of a court warrant and charged on Tuesday for the murder of her 29-year-old daughter in the middle of April at her home.
Chonthira Jindawong was found dead at her substantial home on April 11th last.
She had been murdered by an attacker using a screwdriver.
Her mother, Ms Prateep Jindawong, was released by the court after being charged with the premeditated murder of her daughter on bail of ฿200,000.
Police told by the 29-year-old woman’s mother that her daughter was killed by an intruder who escaped
Police officers, when they were called to the Moo 3 village in tambon Ban Lam Nao in the Bang Khan district of Nakhon Si Thammarat on April 11th were told by the murdered woman’s mother that her daughter’s home had been robbed by an intruder who killed her before making an escape.
Motive for the murder was the woman’s refusal to sell a 10 rai land plot at the instigation of her mother
Police Colonel Somporn Prisawanit, who is in charge of the homicide investigation, has intimated that the motive for the murder was that the victim’s mother wanted to sell some land gifted by her husband to his daughter some time previously and the 29-year-old woman refused.
The land in question was a 10 rai tract and was wanted as part of a palm plantation.
There is some speculation that a deposit on the land was taken leading to it being blocked off by a stranger.
Later, a refund had to be issued due to her daughter’s intransigence on the matter.
Police believe mother was at the scene when the woman was killed with a household screwdriver
Police also have said this week that they believe that the mother, Ms Prateep, was in the house when her daughter was attacked.
Police sources have also not ruled out that there may be other parties to the crime and the investigation is still ongoing.
Officers have refuted the claim put forward by the mother that on the day of her daughter’s death, that she was at work when the break-in took place.
Ms Prateep has shown police what she purported to be evidence of such a break-in by showing them marks on a window of the property which appeared to be forced and broken.
Police reject intruder theory as a window at the home was broken from inside and high off the ground
They have identified that the marks in question were caused by someone attempting to force the window of the home from the inside.
They also noted that the height of the floor of the house, which is in a traditional style, was raised 3 meters above the ground with an elegant porch and steps leading to the entrance.
Officers also observed that there was no sign of a disturbance beyond or near the window of the home.
Mother’s behaviour after the death of her daughter raised suspicions among police investigators
It is understood that the screwdriver used to kill 29-year-old Ms Chonthira belonged to the home.
Police also disclosed that they thought the behaviour of Ms Prateep, in the aftermath of the death of her daughter, was not natural and this had caused them to follow up their investigation into the case.
‘The key evidence that can be kept is the screwdrivers that are used in the home. And the signs of tampering are from the inside. Not leverage outside,’ Police Colonel Somporn explained this week.
Mother vehemently denies the charges
The 54-year old woman is vehemently denying the charges levelled at her.
This week, on Wednesday, she was visited by reporters and revealed that she is aware of who killed her daughter.
She accepts that the murder of her daughter may have been linked with the land she owned and her refusal to part with it but denies that she is the person responsible.
She said that she was frustrated to be accused of killing her daughter when she has a good idea who carried out the crime.
Woman charged is the sole carer of her younger daughter with brain disease and who is incontinent
She introduced reporters to her 18-year-old daughter who is incontinent and bedridden because of brain disease. She explained that she is the only carer for the young woman.
She told reporters that she had raised three children and still had to cook rice, take care of her incapacitated youngest daughter and go to work each day tapping rubber.
She claims that she could not have killed her child.
Woman facing life or the death sentence
Police are still gathering evidence in the case to send a file to the prosecutor’s office so that legal proceedings against Ms Prateep can lead to a successful conviction.
If convicted of the crime, she is facing either life imprisonment or the death sentence depending on the court’s interpretation of the case before it.
Further reading:
Police probe mental health of suspected murderer who killed his wife and stepson in Maha Sarakham
Yaba Yaba Don’t. Another murder in Phatthalung province this week linked to the evil drug now rife
Crazed man kills two in night of bloody murder in Nakhon Ratchasima on Sunday including ex-wife
Israeli wife murderer trying to evade Thai immigration blacklist back in prison where he belongs
Thai man brutally murders the man who took his wife as his own in a country that lives off passion
