A 23-year-old neighbour was arrested yesterday for raping and strangling an 11-year-old schoolgirl in a tapioca plantation in Sanam Chai district last week.
Some of the 100 onlookers' attempts to attack the suspect, Manote Boonmak, prematurely ended the re-enactment of the crime.
Pol General Jongrak Juthanont, a deputy national police chief, told a press conference that Manote, who had scratch marks on his thigh, had succumbed to forensic evidence that found the girl had scratched her attacker.
Moreover, his DNA matched the sample found in the victim's fingernails.
Manote told police that he had gone to see the victim's father at their home but he was not there. He therefore offered the girl a lift to go stay overnight with Ban Tha Sung School teachers and classmates in preparation for a Chon Buri drum contest the next morning.
On the way, he dragged the girl into the roadside plantation, raped her and strangled her with the cord from his trousers. He then fled the scene.
Police said their initial investigation into Manote had found him to be a wayward youth who is addicted to ya ba.