Horton killers ‘had watched porn movie’

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Horton killers ‘had watched porn movie’

KOH SAMUI (The Nation, Phuket Gazette): The two fishermen who have confessed to raping and killing 21-year-old Welsh student Katherine Horton were drunk and had been watching a pornographic movie before swimming ashore to find a victim, the Deputy Police Commissioner, Region 8, Pol Maj Gen Santhan Chayanon, said yesterday.

“They said they intended to find a woman to have sex with after watching the adult movie,” Gen Santhan said.

A police officer who asked not to be named told the Gazette that the two, Wichai “Loh” Somkhaoyai, 24 and Bualoi Kosit, 23, were on board a fishing boat. “The captain was not on board, so they got drunk and watched a pornographic DVD, which made them sexually excited.

“They decided to find somebody to satisfy their lust and swam ashore where they saw Ms Horton strolling along the beach talking on her phone.

“Wichai tried to grab her, but she scratched his face, so he took a beach umbrella and beat her unconscious, then raped her. After both finished raping her, they used the same beach umbrella to beat her to death. After that they dragged her body back to the beach and threw her in the water.”

Gen Santhan said the rape had taken place behind a pile of rocks about 40 meters from the initial attack.

The two returned to their fishing boat after the crime and went out on a fishing trip on another, larger, boat the next day, Gen Santhan explained.

The Central Investigation Bureau Deputy Commissioner, Pol Maj Gen Asavin Kwanmuang, said that investigators zeroed in on the two men after learning from their colleagues that they had suspiciously asked to go out to sea again without taking a break ashore like the other fishermen.

“Police later went aboard that boat and took 29 crewmen for questioning. Two of them confessed to the crime during int errogation,” he said.

The two suspects were flown to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok early yesterday morning for a DNA test before being taken back to Samui for detention.

DNA analysis of the semen recovered from Ms Horton’s body showed that it matched the blood samples taken from the two suspects, and police have used this as scientific proof to back up their arrests, said Deputy Police Commissioner Pol Gen Preowpan Damapong.

He added that he had instructed police at all local tourist destinations to strengthen security measures for tourists to prevent any more crimes in the wake of Ms Horton’s murder.

The Police Commissioner, Pol Gen Kovit Wattana, yesterday gave 100,000 baht to the police team investigating the case as a reward for having made the arrests quickly.

The two fishermen will appear in court tomorrow on charges of gang rape and premeditated murder.

Brought to you b y:
The Phuket Gazette
11:26 local time (GMT +7)

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January 10 2006 at 12:20PM

Bangkok, Thailand - Hundreds of residents of a Thai resort island angrily protested the killing of a British tourist, with some waving wooden clubs as police escorted the two Thai suspects back to the scene of the crime on Tuesday.

Besieged by protesters, police were forced to cancel a planned re-enactment of the murder of Katherine Horton, a 21-year-old student from Wales, whose battered body was found the morning of January 2 by a jet skier in the Gulf of Thailand.

Two Thai fisherman confessed on Monday to killing Horton, who was vacationing on the Island of Koh Samui, and DNA tests indicate the suspects raped the victim, police said.





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Under questioning, the fishermen told police they spotted Horton while she was walking alone on a beach talking on her cellphone. One of the men, Bualoi Posit, 23, told police he grabbed Horton's arms, while the other man, Wichai Somkhaoyai, 24, confessed to hitting her several times with a stick before they raped her and then threw her body into the sea, police said.

They raped her and then threw her body into the sea
The brutality of the crime has shocked this Southeast Asian nation, which makes billions of dollars a year from its tourism industry.

National police spokesman Lieutenant General Ayiravid Subarnbhesaj said that residents and shop owners on Koh Samui "hate the suspects for causing severe damage to the reputation of the country".

Police had initially planned to re-enact the crime Monday but were thwarted by a crowd of hundreds.

Some protesters broke through a police barrier and began punching the suspects, said Ayiravid. A similar scene greeted police Tuesday morning.

"We had to cancel plans to re-enact the crime for fear of violence," he said. Police want to stage a run-through of the crime to back up the suspects' confessions.

The slaying hurt the country's image and could damage its tourism industry.
Police said that despite the DNA findings, Wichai denies having raped the victim.

If convicted of murder, the men could face the death penalty.

The arrests on Monday followed an unusual public appeal last week by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to find the killers, saying that the slaying hurt the country's image and could damage its tourism industry, already suffering a downturn from last year's tsunami and the bird flu scare.

"I feel somewhat relieved that police have made the arrests," Thaksin told reporters on Tuesday, calling for stern punishment if the men are found guilty. "I hope the family (of Horton) feels a little better, because we are doing our best." - Sapa-AP