Teenage suspects questioned in murder of Aranyaprathet woman
Netizens are criticising Aranyaprathet police station in Sa Kaeo province for its investigation into the murder of a 47-year-old local women, after a recent development revealed that the arrested suspect, her husband, could be a scapegoat.
The hashtag #ป้าบัวผัน (Aunty Buaphan) was trending on Thailand’s X (formerly twitter) on Tuesday, with nearly 750,000 mentions.
Buaphan Tansu was found dead in a pond next to a school in Aranyaprathet district on January 12 with trauma wounds to her head and face. Her husband, 54, was arrested shortly after and reportedly confessed to killing his wife.
Police were forced to review the case after CCTV footage submitted by a news channel revealed that Buaphan, who was drinking in front of a 7-Eleven store in Aranyaprathet district on the night of January 11, was being harassed and attacked by a group of five teenagers riding on two motorcycles.
The footage from a camera near the store showed a quarrel between the deceased and the group, before she threw a bottle at them, causing them to retaliate by kicking her and putting her unconscious body on one of the motorcycles.
A news source added that the five teenagers are between 13-16 years old and one of them is the son of a police officer in the province.
The five were brought in for questioning by the Aranyaprathet police on Monday, with no press allowed on the premises. Buaphan’s husband was also reportedly released from a holding cell on Monday after he was cleared of the charge.
On Monday thousands of netizens also took to the Facebook page of Aranyaprathet police station to criticise the police and demand a transparent investigation.
