PATTAYA, Thailand (27 June 2004) -- Police in Bang Lamung District have arrested and charged a Belgian man for the stabbing murder of his ex-girlfriend, who was employed as a dive instructor in Kata. The victim, 23-year-old Chompoonut "Jeab" Kobram of Buri Ram province, finished her PADI dive master course last May and was working for Nautilus Divers in Kata. Pol Maj Chalermkiat Sirimak of Tambon Dong Tan Police Station told the Gazette that K. Jeab's ex-boyfriend, 24-year-old Belgian national Sam Van Treeck, had been arrested for the murder. He is accused of stabbing K. Jeab 48 times with a short-bladed knife, Maj Chalermkiat said. Treeck has denied killing her, saying he found her body on June 25 in his apartment. He was arrested and charged with the murder two days later. Maj Chalermkiat said investigators are now reviewing a tape recorded by a video surveillance camera at the apartment building where Treeck lived. Although hesitant to disclose too much information about the case while it is still under investigation, Maj Chalermkiat did tell the Gazette that investigators had recovered some strands of hair from the victim's hands. The hair is now being tested and the results are expected in about two weeks' time, he said. K. Jeab's Canadian boyfriend Noah Meyer, 33, told the Gazette from K. Jeab's hometown, where he is attending her funeral, that he had been living with her in Phuket for about 18 months and that they were planning to get married next year. He was informed of his girlfriend's murder by the victim's younger sister, who in turn learned about it from a newspaper. "I talked to her for the last time on the phone on Friday afternoon [June 25] and asked what time I should pick her up at the airport, because she was supposed to come back on Saturday. She asked me to call her back, but [when I did] her phone didn't work," he said. Police said that the murder occurred between 4 pm and 6 pm on June 25. "At first I didn't believe it. Then I looked and recognized the photos in the newspaper and I knew [it was true]," he said. | | Chompoonut "Jeab" Kobram pictured with her daughter Cherie. K. Jeab moved to Phuket in December 2002, Mr Meyer said. Before she became a dive master, she worked as a waitress in an Italian restaurant at Nai Harn Beach. "She was extremely friendly and customers loved her. She was very thoughtful," Mr Meyer added. "She went to Pattaya to help her friend Sam. He was her ex-boyfriend many years ago, before the two of us were together. He started to call her again three months ago. She went there alone because she was very independent. I trusted her to travel on her own," he said. "I think he was hung up on her and still loved her," he said, adding that the alleged murderer had told K. Jeab that he was happy to have recently split up with his wife. Asked what he thinks was the motive for the murder, Mr Meyer said, "I have no idea. It's still a complete mystery to me. I don't understand how anyone could do something like that." Bryony Dalby-Ball, a friend of the dead woman, said, "Jeab was a beautiful woman, a great friend to have and I feel lucky to have known her. All her friends love her very much. We'll miss her." SOURCE - Phuket Gazette |
