Spanish tourist arrested after 'stabbing friend to death' in Thailand
Spanish tourist arrested after 'stabbing friend to death' in Thailand
A Spanish tourist has been arrested after allegedly stabbing his friend to death on Thailand's Full Moon Party island.
Carlos Alcaniz Morales, 34, allegedly burst into the single-storey home on Koh Phangan island while Rennie Patricio Goodman Barahona, 41, from Chile, was sleeping with his partner last Saturday night (May 9).
He then allegedly killed the South American in a bloodbath as his screaming girlfriend Chang San Yu, 31, from China, looked on in horror.
Police arrived at the home and found Rennie dead on the living room floor with a kitchen knife plunged into his chest.
Officers arrested the Spanish man shortly after.
He had reportedly fled the scene before having a motorcycle accident.
Rennie's shaken partner told officers that she was sleeping with her partner when they heard a knock on the door at around 1am.
They opened the door and the Spaniard allegedly burst in and stabbed her partner to death before riding away on a motorcycle.
Police claim that Morales was incoherent and high on drugs when they arrested him on suspicion of murder.
The house owner, Wisut Chulaiyanont, said that he believed that deceased and the suspect were friends but he did not know what caused bloodshed.
He said: "The Chilean man had been renting my house for almost a year now.
He used to run a bar in the town but he has spent most of his time at the house recently due to the pandemic.
"I also have seen the suspect visit the deceased several times and they seemed to be quite close which confused me when I heard that he had been arrested for allegedly killing him.'' Speaking on Sunday, Police Lieutenant Colonel Somsak Nurod from the island's police force said they had questioned two mutual friends of the dead man and the alleged killer but nobody was aware of any arguments between the two men.
He said: "From our investigation we found that they were friends and they played music together.
"As fas as we know they had never fought before but their friends were all aware that the Spaniard is a drug addict.
"They said they heard him mumble something about killing his friend before he rode a motorcycle to the house and killed the Chilean.
"He is now being kept at the station but he has not been able to tell us about the incident yet since he is still high.
We will wait for him to be sober before interviewing him in detail.''
