Thai man jailed for murdering Swiss tourist in Phuket

A Thai man has been jailed for life for the robbery and murder of a Swiss tourist whose body was found near a waterfall on a popular beach resort island.

The partially-clothed remains of Nicole Sauvain-Weisskopf, 57, were found on the island of Phuket, where she had travelled under a scheme to reopen Thailand to tourists after Covid-19 travel restrictions were eased.

A court on Phuket ruled on Tuesday that Theerawut Tortip met Sauvain-Weisskopf at the waterfall and intended to rape her, but instead killed her and stole her money, a justice spokesman said.

Theerawut confessed to murder, concealing a body and robbery.

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“With all counts, the court sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment,” a spokesman for the national court service said in a statement.

At an earlier hearing, Theerawut told the court he had taken around 300 baht ($9) after killing Sauvain-Weisskopf.

The murder cast a pall over the launch of Phuket’s “sandbox” pilot scheme to reopen Thailand’s pandemic-hit tourism sector after a year of strict travel curbs.

• Asia