'Confession' in Shimato murder case

A key suspect charged in connection with the murder of Japanese teacher Yoshinori Shimato has confessed to killing the victim before chopping up the body and throwing the pieces into a canal, a senior police officer has said.

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Saturday

Somchai Kaewbangyang, centre, is escorted by police to a house where he allegedly killed Japanese language teacher Yoshinori Shimato and dismembered his body before dumping the body parts in a canal in Samut Prakan's Bang Bo district. SUTIWIT CHAYUTWORAKAN

Suspect 'confesses' to Shimato murder

POST REPORTERS

A key suspect charged in connection with the murder of Japanese teacher Yoshinori Shimato has confessed to killing the victim before chopping up the body and throwing the pieces into a canal, a senior police officer has said.

Police Region 1 acting commissioner Amnuay Nimmano said Somchai Kaewbangyang confessed to the murder during questioning.

Pol Maj Gen Amnuay said Mr Somchai earlier denied killing the man but admitted he dismembered the body to cover up the death after he found him at the house of Pornchanok Chaiyapa, his girlfriend, another suspect in the murder.

He said Ms Pornchanok also admitted she witnessed the killing and gave some useful information, but declined to give further details.

Suspect Pornchanok Chaiyapa wipes tears from her eyes as Somchai Kaewbangyang shows police how murder was committed. SUTIWIT CHAYUTWORAKAN

A source close to the investigation said Mr Somchai admitted to smothering the man to death with a pillow.

The confession comes as police yesterday found knives and other items believed to be connected to the murder at the home of the suspects' daughter.

Pol Maj Gen Amnuay said police expect to wrap up the investigation in 15 days.

Pol Col Somsakchai Amornsongcharoen, chief of Bang Sao Thong police station, said Mr Somchai told investigators about the murder weapons during questioning on Thursday night.

He said police obtained a warrant from Samut Prakan provincial court to conduct a search at the flat in Samut Prakan's Bang Phli district. Officers found the knives allegedly used to chop up the victim and the clothes Mr Somchai wore on that day.

The flat belongs to Mr Somchai's 24-year-old daughter born to Ms Pornchanok.

Forensic tests would be carried out to see if the knives were used in the crime.

Friday

Keiko Matta, 31, calls for police to re-open a probe into the death of her father, Kasitosi Tanaka. He was the ex-husband of Ms Pornchanok. SOMCHAI POOMLARD

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Daughter urges new probe into dad's death

Post Reporters

The daughter of a Japanese businessman who died 11 years ago has petitioned police to re-investigate her father's death after the woman he was living with at the time was arrested for allegedly murdering a 79-year-old Japanese teacher.

Keiko Matta, 31, said she and her five siblings have been living with doubts about the case since police ruled out foul play in the death of her father Kasitosi Tanaka. "We always believed that our father's death was not an accident, but murder," she said.

Ms Matta speaks Thai and has lived in Thailand since she was a child. Media reports about her father's former partner Pornchanok Chaiyapa being arrested for the murder of Yoshinori Shimato prompted her to contact police.

She yesterday asked officers at Bang Sao Thong police station in Samut Prakan to re-investigate the death of her father. Ms Pornchanok claimed he died after suffering a heart attack and falling down the stairs while drunk.

But Ms Matta said her father had no history of heart disease and although he drank a lot of alcohol regularly, he never got really drunk.

She added that her father had called her about two weeks before his death, saying that Ms Pornchanok had taken him to buy life insurance and each of his children would receive 1 million baht if he died.

Ms Matta said Ms Pornchanok organised a funeral just two days after her father's death and had his body cremated immediately.

She added that Ms Pornchanok convinced her to sign a power-of-attorney document written in Japanese, which she cannot read. The document authorised Ms Pornchanok to claim life insurance money on behalf of Ms Matta and Tanaka's other children and give it to them later.

"Ms Pornchanok was weeping and seemed consumed by grief at the time; so we felt it would be heartless to disagree with her request," Ms Matta said.

But after she signed the papers, Ms Pornchanok disappeared. The insurance company later confirmed that Ms Pornchanok had taken the insurance money.

Somchai Kaewbangyang, left, and Pornchanok Chaiyapa, right, appear before the media at the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Bureau Thursday after the discovery of the body parts of 79-year-old Japanese teacher Yoshinori Shimato. CHANAT KATANYU

Ms Matta's revelations came as results of DNA tests on body parts retrieved from a canal in Samut Prakan's Bang Bo district confirmed the remains were that of the missing teacher Shimato, who was last seen on Sept 21.

His son Tetsuo Shimato, who lives in Japan, formally lodged a police complaint on Oct 14 to say his father had gone missing.

Shimato's son decided to come to Thailand after failing to reach his father by phone as usual. He said he was afraid something terrible had happened to his father, who had told him Thailand was a beautiful country where he wanted to see out the final days of his life.

Police had found several suspicious withdrawals from the missing Japanese man's bank account over the past two weeks, with a total of more than 700,000 baht taken out in 14 transactions.

On the same day, the Criminal Court approved a police request for an arrest warrant for Ms Pornchanok and Somchai Kaewbangyang, the man she lived with and had a daughter with before marrying Tanaka in 2002.

The warrant was issued for charges of premeditated murder, unlawful detention, and concealing the body of a victim.

Ms Pornchanok denied any wrongdoing, claiming she took Shimato to doctors at Bang Na 2 Hospital after he suddenly fell ill on Sept 21.

She said the medical bills for the hospital were very high, so they decided to leave. The woman claimed she saw him off at Udom Suk skytrain station at 7am on Sept 21 and had not seen him since.

However, Mr Somchai has allegedly confessed to chopping up the body of Shimato at Ms Pornchanok's house in Samut Prakan on Sept 21. The taxi driver said he did the deed to conceal their theft.

He told police investigators that he received a phone call from Ms Pornchanok about 7pm that day begging him to come to her house.

When he arrived, he claimed she led him to the second floor of the house where he found the dead body of the Japanese man.

Mr Somchai said he and Ms Pornchanok then discussed how to dispose of the body to keep the death a secret. They resolved to dismember the body before putting the remains into four sacks. The pair then dumped the sacks in Khlong Nang Thim in Bang Bo district, he said.

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