[steve@thaib]

Friday, January 13, 2006

Horton killers to be sentenced Wednesday


SURAT THANI: Wichai “Loh” Somkhaoyai, 24, and Bualoi Kosit, 23, the two men accused of raping and murdering 21-year-old Welsh student Katherine Horton on Koh Samui on the night of January 1, appeared in court here today.

Both pleaded guilty to rape-murder charges under sections 276 and 277 of the Thai Penal Code, which stipulates either life imprisonment or the death penalty for such offenses.

The court today heard 11 witnesses, including forensics experts, before adjourning until Wednesday (January 18) when the two men will be sentenced.

Meanwhile, The Nation newspaper reported today that Samui police and the British Embassy are checking into whether the two fishermen who confessed to raping and murdering Welsh tourist Katherine Horton on New Year’s Day also assaulted another British woman in October.

Case investigator Pol Maj Thanongsak Aksornsom said the embassy staff contacted him Thursday and asked about obtaining the results of DNA tests on both suspects. The officials want to see whether the results were consistent with evidence collected from the unnamed woman, who said she was sexually violated by two men, also on Samui.

Thanongsak said he was told the victim, now back in England, filed a report with British police after learning of the arrest of the two men on Monday, saying that one of them resembled one of the men who attacked her.

Ruengnam Jaikwang, head of the Koh Samui Tourism Association, has called for a ban on fishing trawlers dropping anchor anywhere they please around the tourist island. A docking zone should be designated for the trawlers for safety and scenic reasons, he said