Elizabeth Corrigan, 29, died from head injuries sustained after she fell from a moving tuk-tuk en route from Patong to her and her male companion’s hotel room in Surin* at about 3am yesterday (Dec 20). (See story here.)
The tuk-tuk driver, 44-year-old Yongyut Damkong, tested negative for alcohol and claimed he was driving no faster than 40kmh when Ms Corrigan fell from his vehicle. Mr Yongyut’s wife was beside him in the driver’s cab throughout the entire journey.
“We have not pressed any charges against Mr Yongyut as we have yet to conclude our investigation. We want to be fair to all parties,” Kamala Police Chief Col ML Pattanajak Jakkapan told The Phuket News today.
Col ML Pattanajak declined to reveal any details of the man that Ms Corrigan was travelling in the tuk-tuk with, or any other details of the investigation.
“All I can say at this stage is that we are collecting more evidence,” he said. “We are conducting checks on the vehicle (tuk-tuk) and we have yet to take witness statements from all the suspects we wish to question.
“I don’t want to reveal any of these details until I get all the information,” Col ML Pattanajak said. “I do want this case to be fair, and I believe that we should be able to conclude our investigation this week.”
* Correction: Hotel room in Surin, not Kamala, as this report initially stated. The error is regretted.