A Thai man said he was beaten up by police after he turned down the police’ offer to give him reward money if he agreed to be a witness in the murder case of of the two British tourists in Thailand’s touristic island of Koh Tao, southern Surat Thani province, according to ASTV-Manager online.
The report says Pornprasit Sukdam, 37, on Tuesday complained with Kobchai Saowalak, kamnan of Koh Tao sub-district, and asked for protection.
Pornprasit said the police detained him on Monday 1.30pm. During the interrogation, the police investigators persuaded him to agree to pretend to have knowledge of the incident, Pornprasit said. The police allegedly offered him 700,000 baht (about 21,600 USD) reward and guaranteed that he has the witness status. However, since he was not involved with the crime and did not hold knowledge related to it, Pornprasit declined the police’s offer.
That made the police angry, he said. The police allegedly beat him up before released him on Monday 6.30pm.
He decided to tell this story to others since the police planned to interrogate him again on Tuesday and he feared to be beaten up again.
He added that he does not plan to pursue case against the police, but wants to assert his innocence. He is willing to cooperate with the police, but not by force.
Meanwhile, kamnan of Koh Tao sub-district urged the police not to use violence with the suspects and not to arrest a scapegoat.
Pornprasit is a taxi driver on Koh Tao and member of the Sun Service Football team. There was a football match held on the day of the murders. The team members are now the focus of the police investigators.
The bodies of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, were found with severe head wounds on September 15.