Japanese parents meet PM’s secretary-general to urge probe into their daughter’s murder

BANGKOK, Dec 1 (TNA) -- The parents of a Japanese woman who was killed in Sukhothai province a decade ago met the secretary-general of the prime minister to seek faster investigation into the murder while the reward for an informant who leads to an arrest is raised to 1.6 million baht. Pol Col Paisit Wongmuang, director-general of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), led Yasuaki Kawashita and Eiko Kawashita, the parents of Tomoko Kawashita, to meet Gen Wilas Arunsri, the secretary-general to the prime minister, to seek the government’s support for investigation. “The prime minister pays special attention to the issue. He ordered concerned officials to close the case as soon as possible because it has been delayed for 10 years. The Public Relations Department was instructed to encourage those who witnessed the crime to give their information to police or the DSI,” Pol Col Paisit said. He also said that the reward for the party that gives useful information leading to an arrest was increased from 500,000 baht to 1.6 million baht. Pol Col Paisit insisted that the DSI had done its best in the investigation. It performed DNA tests on about 300 people but to no avail. The DSI took over the case six years after the murder had happened, so it was difficult to gather evidence, he said. Tomoko Kawashita, 25, was murdered on Nov 25, 2007, while visiting the Sukhothai Historical Park during the Loy Krathong festival. The body was found on a road in the compound of the historical park. Her throat was slashed and her belongings were stolen. (TNA)