A Singaporean man who murdered his Thai wife's lover in Bangkok on Thursday afternoon is currently on the run and wanted by police in Thailand.
The stabbing took place in a unit on the sixth floor of the Regent Home Condominium located in the Chatuchak area, reports said. The man had reportedly purchased the unit for his wife.
The murderer, identified as 38-year-old Hsu Wei Hua, was caught on the building's security camera as he fought with and stabbed his wife's lover outside the apartment.
The camera captured images of him eavesdropping outside the apartment door for half an hour before forcing entry into the room by kicking the door in.
Upon entering, he found his 25-year-old wife, Ms Siriwan Yaemsi, in bed with a naked 26-year-old drift-racing driver Ittiphan Kuwakorn, who is also known as Wat Kumho.
Mr Ittiphan is a car drifter familiar with the community in Singapore and Malaysia.
According to the camera footage, both men started fighting outside the apartment. Mr Ittiphan was still naked.
The suspect then re-entered the apartment and emerged with a knife which he used to stab his wife's lover.
The footage also revealed that Mr Ittiphan had staggered back to the apartment unit before dying in the bedroom.
According to Thai media reports, Mr Ittiphan was stabbed in nine places including his chest, heart, back, and right hand.
Ms Siriwan called the police after Mr Kuwakorn died, and upon their arrival, they discovered the Singaporean man's passport at the scene.
The Singaporean allegedly fled the crime scene in a BMW 325i that he had bought for his wife. He had previously also bought her luxury gifts and is believed to have given her an allowance of 70,000 baht ($2,900) every month, The New Paper reported.
According to Lianhe Wanbao, Hsu married Ms Siriwan on Sept 25, 2009. His first marriage was to a Singaporean woman in 1997.
He reportedly owns a plastic moulding factory in Kallang and was a director at another company in the same industry from 1998 to 2001.
According to The New Paper, Hsu registered for a sole proprietorship of Evo Technology, which he cancelled in 2006.
He left behind his passport and Singapore driving licence after stabbing Mr Ittiphan, and has not been seen or heard from since the incident.
Lover believed to be wife's chauffer
A report in The New Paper states that Hsu had hired Mr Ittiphan as a chauffeur for Ms Siriwan.
Reporters from the paper visited Hsu's last known address in Singapore - an HDB flat on Yishun Ave 11 - on Sunday, but were turned away by a man who answered the door.
He refused to say whether he was related to Hsu.
There are also conflicting local news reports about the relationship between Hsu and the residents of the Yishun unit.
One report stated that Hsu is related to the residents in the unit but were unaware of the stabbing case, whereas another said that Hsu had rented the unit and did not own it.
Victim known among car drifting community
Mr Ittiphan is known to some of the drifters in Singapore and Malaysia, who expressed shock when news broke about his death.
Local drifter Benjamin Cheah, 20, told The New Paper: "I was shocked to hear the news. It's sad to know that he passed away in such circumstances."
Mr Ittiphan is often seen at drifting events in Thailand and while he wasn't one of Thailand's top-ranked drifters, he had been in the Thailand drifting scene for many years.
Mr Cheah said that the two knew each other as casual acquaintances and would exchange greetings whenever they saw each other during events at the track.
He also said that Mr Ittiphan had a purple Nissan Cefiro which he used in drift events in Bangkok.
Mr Cheah told The New Paper that his Thai friends had not seen Ms Siriwan and Mr Ittiphan together.
However, a Thai friend revealed to Mr Cheah that Ms Siriwan had told Mr Ittiphan that she wanted to end their relationship just the day before the fatal stabbing took place.
