Pattaya Daily News

Pattaya, the 10^th of August 2010 [PDN]: At approximately 8:00pm on Tuesday, Lieutenant Colonel Klib Inkaew (Banglamung Police Investigator) was notified of a suspected foreign suicide at the Villa Park housing estate in Soi Sukhumvit 67, Banglamung. A team of officers along with medical examiners from the Banglamung hospital were dispatched to the incident to investigate.

At the scene, a one-storey residence in the Villa Park community, officers forced entry to the house, which was locked securely, finding the deceased body of Mr. Ignace August Simon Michel De Brabandere [72], a Belgian national. Mr. De Brabandere was discovered outside, hanging dead from a rope attached to the steel awning of a rear window to the building. Due to the advanced stages of decomposition evident on his body, medical examiners determined that the he had been dead for approximately 1-week.

Investigation of the deceased’s body, found that his head and face was covered by a blue woollen hat, while a black belt had been tightly fastened around his body and his wrists were loosely bound. In his possession was a card wallet containing a Thai drivers license, several business cards, bank/credit cards, a photograph of his Thai wife and Bt1,000 note. In the vicinity of the incident was a white stool, believed to have been used in the hanging, while a 2-meter stepladder was also present merely 3-meters from the body.

Giving further appearance of an apparent suicide was the presence of two notes, written in English, left on a table 5-meters from the incident. One letter was to the police, while the other was apparently to his Thai wife, Mrs. Phornphan Sakaew [33] from Surin. In addition to the suicide note was a copy of Mr. De Brabandere’s life insurance policy was present. The two suicide notes were not provided to the gathered media for examination.

Under interrogation, the next-door neighbour’s maid, Miss Melada Wachirachaow [37], who discovered the body, explained that she had observed Mr. De Brabandere hanging from the window awning whilst in the neighbouring garden at approximately 5:00pm. She stated that she initially thought it was a burglar deterrent dummy placed by the couple, who had recently returned from abroad. On further investigation, she discovered that the figure was actually that of Mr. De Brabandere.

Reportedly, Mr. Brabandere and his Thai wife had purchased the house over two years ago for an amount of Bt3.8 million. Having recently returned from an overseas trip, Mrs. Sakaew had allegedly gone back to her native province of Surin to visit family, while Mr. De Brabandere remained in Pattaya.

At present, police have been reluctant to reveal suicide as the mode of death, largely down to several suspicious details and pieces of evidence left at the scene. Investigations are currently ongoing as police seek out Mrs. Sakaew for questioning in relation to the incident, while the Belgian Embassy has been informed.

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Extensive Gallery [ 3 photos ]