The Bangkok taxidriver, whom police say confessed to killing a Thai woman and her five-year-old son whose dismembered body was found in Taling Chan district last Monday, has been placed on a suicide watch. He now faces additional charges of illegal detention and armed robbery at night.
Detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison for four days now, suspect Siripong Kanchananiwit, 40, appears stressful and has lost his appetite, said acting prison director Sopon Thititham. He has been placed with others in a cell equipped with a security camera and located near a prison guard station, to prevent him from committing suicide.
Pol Lt Col Mana Pochuay led case investigators to the prison yesterday to interrogate Siripong about the murders of Sunan Sirsuwan, 38, and her son. The police also notified Siripong of the additional two charges against him.
Asked whether the suspect was mentally ill, Mana said the information Siripong had given police could all be proven and he knew what he had done. Police have not yet retrieved Sunan's missing diamond earrings and ring, he added.
In a related development, Rama 9 hospital doctors yesterday discussed Sunan's daughter, who had witnessed the murders and is receiving medical treatment there. The girl's father had requested her release to attend Sunan's funeral in Chon Buri.
The doctors agreed the girl was not yet ready because she had just undergone left elbow surgery and needed time to recover. The doctors are also closely watching her mental condition, which is improving gradually and she can now eat and sleep normally.
The girl reportedly asked to see her Uncle Jo, who lived in Nakhon Sawan and was close to her mother, but doctors only allowed her to only talk with him on the phone.