Thai police arrest suspect in Swiss woman's killing

A suspect in death of a Swiss woman on Thailand’s tourist island of Phuket was charged with murder and robbery, police said Sunday.

suspect, Teerawat Thothip, a 27-year-old Thai man living in Phuket, confessed to killing and dialled in to a police press conference to mit his guilt.

Investigators were able to trace suspect using security camera footage, and during interrogation he was found to have scratches and bruises on his body, a senior police officer said.

body of Swiss woman, Nicole Sauvain-Weisskopf, aged 57, was discovered Thursday at a secluded spot on island.

Swiss media reported that she was a member of country’s diplomatic service.

suspect told reporters he went into a forest on Tuesday to try to find rare plants to sell, but was unsuccessful.

On his way back, he said he passed a waterfall and saw Sauvain-Weisskopf. He said he strangled her from behind, and that she resisted for a while before losing consciousness.

He n covered her with a black sheet, which was found nearby, took 300 baht ($9) from her backpack and threw her sneakers away. He said his motivation was because he h no money and no work due to COVID-19 pandemic.

cause of death has not been confirmed, and an autopsy report has yet to be released by authorities, a police spokesperson said.

incident has cast a pall over Thailand’s so-called Phuket Sandbox program to try and bring fully vaccinated foreign tourists to popular destination, which has been struggling massively during coronavirus pandemic.

IMAGE: AP