Published on June 24, 2005

The families of MP Attaphol Sanitwongchai and his mistress Wassana Sunee, who fell to their deaths from the politician’s Bangkok apartment in separate incidents on Wednesday, said yesterday that the pair might have been murdered.

Police, meanwhile, ruled out Attaphol having committed suicide. This followed an autopsy on his body.

Attaphol’s father, former de-puty commerce minister Cha-lermphol Sanitwongchai, said he did not think his son had taken his own life or died from an accident.

“My son might have been murdered, but I don’t think [Wassana] did it,” he said.

“He was outgoing and had a lot of girlfriends, so it’s unreasonable to think he took his life.

“And I don’t think it was an accident either. He’s a regular drinker and the alcohol found in his blood was not high enough to cause him to pass out and fall from the room,” he added.

“I wonder if there was another person in the room other than the two [Attaphol and Wassana] at that time.”

Chalerm-phol dismissed speculation that he had said something to Wassana that could have forced her to commit suicide when she returned to the condominium after being questioned by police.

The ex-politician said he went to the condominium to collect his son’s belongings.

Chalermphol claimed he had also offered Bt5,000 to Wassana, but she refused to accept the money.

“She asked me to say good-bye to [Attaphol] for her at his funeral,” he said.

Wassana’s mother, Jamnian Sunee, 55, said she doubted that her daughter had committed suicide.

“I don’t think it’s a suicide. She had a phobia about heights and was afraid of death,” Jamnian said.

“And I don’t believe in the theory that she pushed the MP to his death either – she’s a lot smaller than him.”

The young pair fell to their deaths from the 10th floor of the La Maison Condominium off Phaholyothin Road in suspicious circumstances.

Attaphol, a 38-year-old Thai Rak Thai MP for Udon Thani, was found dead around 3am on Wednesday morning.

Later that evening, as authorities were still investigating his death, 25-year-old Wassana apparently jumped from the same apartment.

She died from her injuries more than an hour later in hospital.

Metropolitan Police commissioner Lt-General Pansiri Prapawat led a group of senior officers to inspect the apartment for about an hour yesterday afternoon.

Pansiri said the autopsy had shown it was unlikely the MP had killed himself.

He said Attaphol appeared to have fallen headfirst, which was unusual for a suicide.

The officer said investigators were now focusing on accident or murder as the possible causes for Attaphol’s death.

Police found latent fingerprints near the open window where the pair plunged to their deaths, he added.

Pansiri dismissed speculation that Wassana might have committed suicide due to stressful police questioning.

There were no signs that she would take her own life during the interrogation, he said.

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