Malaysian held over Thai woman's murder

SINGAPORE: A 29-year-old Malaysian man has been arrested for the murder of a Thai woman, who was found in her Chai Chee flat on Thursday evening with severe head injuries. 

Police identified the 26-year-old victim as Thabun Pranee and said she knew the alleged killer. 

The Straits Times reported yesterday that the victim’s husband, a 50-year-old Singaporean shop assistant, found her blood-covered body on the floor of their master bedroom at 6pm on Thursday.  

Police said she had been stabbed once in the neck and struck on her head several times.  

She died as a result of a fractured skull, a pathologist said. 

Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers arrested the alleged killer at his rented flat at Block 316, Hougang Avenue 4, at 11.45pm on Thursday – six hours after Pranee’s body was found. 

The assistant store supervisor holds a valid work permit and has been working in Singapore since 1997. 

A police spokesman said Pranee had apparently let the suspect into her flat on the ninth floor of Block 45, Chai Chee Street, at 10.15am on Thursday. 

Police found cash and jewellery that had been stolen from Pranee in the suspect’s Hougang flat. The stolen items included gold rings, bracelets, chains, a bangle and a Rolex watch worth about $4,000 (RM8,728).