Thai police confident of case against Spanish murder suspect

BANGKOK — Police in Thailand said today (Feb 10) they have enough evidence to prosecute a 36-year-old Spanish man accused of killing and dismembering a fellow Spaniard to steal his fortune.

Police general Panya Mamen said that Artur Segarra Princep, 36, had been cooperative with interrogators but would not confess to the killing in late January of his countryman, 40-year-old David Bernat. He was arrested in expectation of being charged with premeditated murder and concealing a body.

“We are confident that the suspect is the person committed this crime,” he said.

Mr Panya said police found a freezer in Mr Segarra’s Bangkok home that they believed was used to store the body, along with what he described as “a book with instructions on how to dismember body parts.”

“We believe that the freezer was ordered specifically to commit this crime, to freeze (body parts),” he said at a news conference.

According to accounts in the Thai media, police believe Segarra held Bernat against his will and tortured him to force him to transfer as much as 37 million baht ($1.46 million) to his bank account, then killed him and chopped up his body to try to conceal the crime.

Pieces of Bernat’s body were retrieved from Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River, and identified by DNA matching. Segarra was arrested in Cambodia on Sunday and sent back to Thailand.

“We are confident in the witnesses, evidence and documents we have gathered. We have clear evidence to prosecute him,” said Mr Panya. “At this stage, we still believe that he committed this crime; killing, transporting, and concealing (body parts) by himself.”

Segarra’s Thai girlfriend, Pridsana “Ploy” Seanubon, has been helping the investigation, but is not a suspect in the murder.

Mr Panya said evidence in the case include witnesses who saw the suspect and victim together. Police said earlier that Segarra acknowledged knowing Bernat.

Police took Segarra to court today to get legal approval to extend his detention pending the filing of formal charges against him. AP