DIANA Goh Li Fun is expected to appear in court on Phuket this week to answer a charge that she ordered the killing of Francis Alex Degioanni in Patong.

The case is one of several alleged murders and unusual deaths that have captured public attention on Phuket in 2009.

An abstract for the prosecution case against the 32-year-old Singaporean was sent to Phuket Provincial Court on Thursday.

Miss Goh has been held in jail since her arrest in March, when she lined up at Kathu police station with six others accused of helping her carry out the killing, including alleged hitmen Somchai Mingjaiyen, 29, and Suwan Simet, 32.

She told police that the Canadian property developer had borrowed a large amount of money from her, then pretended that he owed her nothing.

Because she was broke and he refused to repay the money, she borrowed 1.5 million baht from a friend in Singapore to have him murdered, police allege.

Mr Degioanni was gunned down outside his Patong office-home on February 19.

Police said they cracked the case by sifting through records from resorts and hotels on the island until they uncovered the movements of the alleged killers. CCTV footage was used, too.


EKAWOOD Pipatratana, 34, owner of the Dr Com Electronic Center in Bang Tao, has been in jail since he allegedly shot Amornthep ''Gaga'' Panya, aged 12, while playing with a handgun at the games shop on April 23.

Police told Phuketwan that their investigation was 80 percent completed, with all questioning of witnesses concluded.

But forensic evidence relating to the bullet that killed the boy has yet to be supplied, police said.

Police objected to an application by Khun Ekawood to seek bail.

After the unintentional shooting, he is alleged to have dropped the boy's body by the roadside before heading to Bangkok to see his wife.

The following day, with the boy's family and locals conducting a roadblock at an important intersection in Surin, he surrendered to the Governor of Phuket, Wichai Praisa-nob.

The case is expected to proceed next week when an abstract will be sent to the prosecutor.


POLICE are waiting on fingerprint evidence in the case of British expat Ian Kenneth Stuart, 60, whose battered body was found in a bedroom above his workplace at St James Properties Co, Ltd. In Phuket City, not far from Tesco-Lotus supermarket.

Two sets of fingerprints were found at the scene. One set of fingerprints in the bedroom matched the victim.

Police are now awaiting more details on the second set, hoping the prints will provide a vital clue as to who killed the financial planner.

The murder took place on February 23, a few days after the killing of Mr Degioanni in Patong, provoking alarm among some expat residents.

Alarm was compounded when one of the alleged hitmen from the Degioanni case told police that he had been contracted to carry out a second ''hit'' involving an expat.

Police told Phuketwan that investigators checked CCTV cameras at the shophouse office project where Mr Stuart's body was found.

They also looked into his background to determine possible motives and suspects.


POLICE have named Praphan Inkhong as the alleged hitman involved in the murder of Chid ''Kit'' Raknang, owner of Farang restaurant in Phuket City.

Khun Chid was gunned down by a motorcycle hitman as he sat in his restaurant, opposite Index Mall, just off the bypass road, on January 18.

Police have issued an arrest warrant for Khun Praphan, who is also wanted in connection with other cases.

Police believe Khun Praphan remains on the loose in Songkla province.

Once he is caught, police say, the identity of the person who drove the motorcycle during the killing and the identity of those who ordered the murder should become plain.

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