A man accused of stabbing a woman to death within hours of arriving in the UK and renting a room from her via Airbnb has denied murder
A man accused of stabbing a woman to death within hours of arriving in the UK and renting a room from her via Airbnb has denied murder.
Enzo Bettamio, 18, an international kart racer, was charged with murdering Kamonnan Thiamphanit, 27, also known as Angela, after being extradited from the United Arab Emirates in April. On Friday, the dual Brazilian and Italian national appeared at the Old Bailey for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
The court previously heard the defendant had allegedly killed Ms Thiamphanit during a period of 24 hours in the UK in 2024.
Then aged 16, he had arrived in the UK on a flight from Los Angeles on April 5 2024.
He had allegedly used the Airbnb app to book a room for a month at Ms Thiamphanit’s property in Stanhope Place, near Marble Arch in central London.
Ms Thiamphanit spent that evening playing board games with friends, leaving in the early hours of April 6, citing an emergency at the Stanhope Place address, the court has heard.
An Uber minicab dropped her off at 4.24am, which was the last time she was physically seen alive, the court was previously told.
Some 13 hours later, the defendant allegedly flagged down a black cab on nearby Bayswater Road to take him to the airport, where he bought a ticket to Dubai.
Ms Thiamphanit’s friends became concerned and alerted police, who found her body inside her home on April 8.
A post-mortem examination found she had died from multiple sharp force injuries.
Bettamio, of no fixed address, spoke to confirm his identity and deny the charge of murder in a hearing before Judge Simon Mayo KC.
The defendant, who wore a dark Adidas tracksuit jacket and had a plaster covering his right eye, was remanded into custody and will face trial beginning on February 1 next year.
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