Police suspect the attack was motivated by a former boyfriend's personal conflict with the mother.

Following a homicide report just after midnight yesterday, Koh Samui police rushed to the one-storey house on a two-rai plot of land that is situated near the island's ferry pier in Tambon Lipa Noi.

The five-year-old boy, Panuwat Yano Crop, was found dead on the back balcony with his throat slit, a knife wound in his back and a severe head injury.

The boy's mother Oraphan Yano Crop, 30, who was seriously injured with a slashed throat and head injuries, was rushed to Koh Samui Hospital.

Koh Samui Superintendent Colonel Chaiyuth Nilawong said the attack on the mother and son did not appear to be a robbery.

Further investigations found that Oraphan used to have a Thai boyfriend living on Koh Pha-ngan, but she broke up with him and later married an Australian man.

It is learnt that the Thai man had tried to get back with her but she had turned him down.

Another possible motive was the Bt200,000 Oraphan owed to a construction material shop in Samui, Chaiyuth said, but police gave more weight to the former motive and was gathering evidence for an arrest warrant.

Chaiyuth said the lone attacker sneaked into the house from the back and was attacking Oraphan when her son came in and cried out.

He said that preliminary investigation showed that the attacker hit the boy's head on a marble bench and then stabbed him.

Chaiyuth said that police would arrest the suspect as soon as possible.

The Nation

Surat Thani