SA man accused of murder in Thailand

A SOUTH African man accused of being the trigger man in the shooting of a British national in Thailand has been described as a good Catholic boy who has never hurt anyone in his life.

Abel Bonita Caldeira, 23, and another British national, Miles Dicken Turner, are being sought by Thai police in connection with the killing of businessman Tony Kenway in the southern Thai city of Pattaya.

As details of the crime surfaced, relatives of Caldeira reacted in disbelief.

“It can’t be. Not our Abel‚” his uncle‚ Jose, said.

Caldeira and Turner are suspected of shooting Kenway, 39, twice in the head on Tuesday while he sat in his Porsche – all of which was caught on CCTV footage.

The footage shows the killer opening the door of Kenway’s parked red Porsche Cayenne‚ shooting him once then fleeing on a motorbike ridden by an accomplice.

Police traced the motorcycle to a rental company, which had copies of the men’s passports on file.

They searched the accommodation where they had been staying, but the men had already left.

Jose‚ who raised Caldeira after his father died‚ insisted he was incapable of doing something so brutal.

“He is a good Catholic boy. He has never hurt anyone in his life‚” he said.

“We just cannot believe what we have heard. Abel is definitely not a mobster or a hitman‚ that’s for sure.”

Jose said Caldeira’s mother‚ Albertina‚ had phoned him yesterday morning to tell him the news.

“She had not heard from Abel in the last 10 days,” he said.

“He works in a bar at a resort so it’s not strange to not hear from him for a couple of weeks at a time.

“The next thing she sees on national TV he is an internationally wanted fugitive.”

As the family tries to gather information on Caldeira’s whereabouts, Jose said they were now receiving death threats.

“Unknown people are contacting us and telling us they will come for us.

“Albertina is going into hiding. We are all scared‚” he said.

All they wanted was for Caldeira to contact them.

“We don’t know where he is or what he has got himself mixed up in,” Jose said.

Caldeira used to own and run the Settlers Pub in Orkney in North West, but sold the bar last year before joining his mother and stepfather‚ Louis Traut‚ in Cambodia.

Traut left a curt message on Caldeira’s Facebook page saying: “Call me”.

Kenway’s wife‚ according to the blog Nickobongiorno‚ told police that her husband had set up a website design company near an area called Jomtien beach.

He also allegedly ran an online football gambling website.

Thai police believe Caldeira and Turner have left the country, but are working with police in Cambodia to find them.

A police source in Pattaya told MailOnline they were investigating a football gambling website set up by Kenway that may have caused a rift with rival firms.

South African authorities say they have not received any request for assistance from the Thai authorities.