Mum ‘strangled autistic daughter’

A mother has admitted to murdering her 15-year-old autistic daughter at a rented apartment in Chatuchak district of Bangkok, saying she could no longer take care of her alone following the death of her husband.

Pol Lt Ukrit Suthiraphongsit, an investigator at Thung Song Hong station, said he attended the scene about 3am yesterday. In a rented room on the third floor of an apartment building on Ngam Wong Wan Road, police found a 52-year-old woman seated and crying by the body of her dead daughter, who was on a bed, Pol Lt Ukrit said.

He identified the woman only by her first name, Yolwadi. On the bed were about 30 Diazepam tablets and a chain about 1 metre long.

Ms Yolwadi told investigators her daughter had been receiving treatment for autism since 2006. She had been taking care of her alone since her husband died about three years ago.

Living alone with an autistic daughter, she had no choice but to chain the child inside their room while she was away at work for fear the girl would wander off outside.

Ms Yowaldi said she took two sleeping pills every night to cope with the stress of raising the girl herself. She went home on Monday about 9pm, having resigned from her job.

She allegedly told police she lay down on the bed with her daughter for a while, and then wrapped a strip of cloth around the girl’s neck and tightened it until she was dead.

She thought ending her life this way would ensure she suffered the least.

The mother said she dozed off by the side of her daughter’s body and when she woke up later went out to buy three bottles of beer to wash down several sleeping pills, but only ended up vomiting them up, police said.

Police said Ms Yowaldi told them she passed out and when she awoke decided to call police to confess. She appeared intoxicated when they arrived. Police have not said what charges, if any, they intend to lay against the woman, or what kind of support she had available.