Officers were called to the room, located off Soi Sikor (behind the Sikor Market, near the Caltex petrol station) at about 7am after a neighbour found the body, identified as that of Athon Pinitsakul, 59, a “green plate” taxi (commercial passenger vehicle) driver at Patong.
“I walked past Athon’s room and saw the door was open a bit. I called out to him, but got no answer. I opened the door and saw Athon on the bed, so I called the police immediately,” the neighbour told police.
Kathu Police Deputy Chief Investigator Lt Col Amponwat Seangreung, who inspected the scene, reported, “We arrived to find the room was not locked. There were clothes still hanging up and many empty water bottles on the floor. We also found asthma medicine in the room
“We found Mr Athon lying face down on the bed wearing only an orange sarong. We believe he died about six hours before his body was found,” he said.
“We found three fresh wounds at his back of his head. We cannot confirm what caused these wounds, but they are consistent with wounds caused by being struck by a hard object.
“The room showed no signs that it had been robbed, and it is possible that Mr Athon fell and tried crawl his way onto the bed. Regardless, we are continuing our investigation, Col Amponwat added.