An Udon Thani monk wanted for the axe murder of a northeastern cattle farmer has been arrested in Pattaya.
Songkran Chaiyasin, 41 of Sri Boonruang Temple was apprehended as he disembarked from an interprovincial bus on Sukhumvit Road Oct. 23. Mekhin Sotasri and Thanakorn Thipsing, two 14-year-old former novices who allegedly helped him dispose of the body of Wicharn Prommin, 44, also were captured.
Songkran, the Muang District temple’s deputy abbot, was descried in Thai media as a thuggish character who bullied and threatened other monks, including the abbot. He allegedly was drinking with two men in the monk dormitories late Oct. 20 when Wicharn entered and demanded the monk pay his debt on a cockfighting bet he’d placed.
A witness reported that Songkran became angry and punched the cattle farmer in the face before ordering the teenage former novices to bring him an axe, which he swung at the victim’s neck, face and skull.
The youths were then ordered to dig a shallow grave for the farmer outside the temple grounds were Songkran deposited the body and covered it with his blood-soaked saffron robe, police said.
The monk and the two boys then fled for Pattaya.
The two teens confessed to their part in the ordeal, laying the blame for the murder on Songkran. The monk was sent back to Udon Thani Oct. 24.
