Details of the harrowing crime were given this week by senior police officers in Phetchaburi province who revealed that legal proceedings against Chantima Wongwatkee are underway for intentionally killing the older woman after she was discovered embezzling funds and committing fraud.

A 26 year old woman in Phetchaburi is being charged with murder after the body of a 70-year-old woman was found at her home in the Tha Yang district of the province last Friday. The young woman told police that she had killed the older woman while driven by an uncontrollable ‘mood swing’ after being confronted with embezzlement charges by her grandmother which she admitted to police this week were true.

26-year-old-murders-grandmother-over-bank-theft
Police escort the main suspect in the murder of 70-year-old Tee Sae Phu in the Tha Yang district of Phetchaburi this week, her 26-year-old granddaughter in law Chantima Wongwatkee as they pursue legal proceedings against her for murdering her elderly relative at the victim’s home on Wednesday 11th May last.

A 26-year-old Thai woman in Phetchaburi province has told police that she murdered her grandmother in law and made it look like a burglary gone wrong at the older woman’s home in the Tha Yang district of Phetchaburi where the body of Tee Sae Phu was found on Friday last, the 13th of May in what looked like suspicious circumstances.

Chantima Wongwatkee was arrested by police shortly after the alarm was raised when officers called to what they deduced quickly to be a murder scene and were told that the young woman had fled to a nearby village.

70-year-old woman’s body found by police lying in her bed with visible bruise marks amid a violent scene

At the crime scene, police found the body of 70-year-old Ms Tee lying in her bed with bruise marks on her throat and face.

On examination of the body, it was found that Ms Tee’s tongue was clenched within the mouth and that she appeared to have died from suffocation.

Police arrested the 26-year-old suspect at Ban Khong Ta Bang village nearby in the same district on foot of a warrant issued by Phetchaburi Provincial Court. They questioned her about the death of her grandmother in law.

The young woman quickly admitted being responsible for the older woman’s death.

She revealed that the murder had occurred on Wednesday the 11th of May after she had taken Ms Tee in her motorbike sidecar to run routine errands.

Argument over financial matters arose between the older woman and her granddaughter on errands run

In the course of their travels, an argument arose when Ms Tee demanded that Ms Chantima repay monies that had been taken from her bank account without her permission.

The embezzlement of the older woman’s funds had recently come to light when Ms Tee was contacted by bank officials who had become suspicious of the withdrawal of funds totalling nearly ฿200,000 from her bank account.

Ms Chantima admitted to police that she had tricked her grandmother into signing documents including an ID card allowing her to act on the older women’s behalf or as a proxy.

She said she was worried last week as she had become aware that the bank had made contact with her grandmother asking for clarification on the matter and alerting her to the crime she had committed.

She disclosed she had used the money to defray personal expenses and to make debt repayments which were due on a daily basis.

Grandmother used highly insulting language causing her to drive the woman home where she attacked her

Last Wednesday, her grandmother had used language towards her that she found unbearably insulting causing her to grow extremely angry.

She explained to investigating officers that she had summarily driven the older woman back to her home where the argument with her grandmother became physical leading to Ms Chantima knocking the older woman to the ground.

She told police that she then jumped on Ms Tee and began to strangle her until she expired. Thinking she was dead, she moved her body onto the nearby bed.

Subsequently, her grandmother woke up and in response, she found a long piece of wood which she used to beat the older woman across the head with repeated blows.

Police later recovered a 70cm length of wood from the crime scene believed to have been used by Ms Chantima in the course of her deadly attack.

She then jumped on the woman again in the bed and suffocated her to death with a pillow which she only released when she was certain the older woman was dead.

26 year old made the scene look like a burglary gone wrong and then stole from the older woman again

She admitted that she had then broken one of the windows of the home and contrived to make the scene look like a burglary gone wrong.

After this, she stole a further ฿30,000 from the older woman at the scene and used this money to pay off debts and lodged some of it into her bank account.

She told officers that she was deeply sorry for what she had done and blamed the extreme violence she had used on the older woman on a sudden and ungovernable mood swing brought on by the deceased’s invective.

Details of the case were given to the media by Police Lieutenant General Thanayut Wutthijarathamrong, the commander of Provincial Police Region 7 and Police Major General Uthai Kawindechathorn, the Head of Police for Phetchaburi province.

Ms Chantima was detained at Tha Yang Police Station while police prepared legal proceedings against her on a charge of intentionally killing the older woman or murder.

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