The girl later died from a drug overdose.

Weerapong said the man did not say if he had committed the crime alone or with others, or said who else might have raped the girl. So, police would get six other suspects, who live nearby, to undergo DNA tests.

The results should be out later this week and the case concluded soon, he said.

The father of the girl tried to kill himself in a cell where he was being held at Muang Trang Police Station early yesterday, but was stopped. He was arrested at 2am yesterday while sleeping at the temple where his daughter’s funeral was taking place.

A warrant for his arrest was issued on Monday. The man reportedly tried to hang himself by attaching his football shorts to the bars while the guard went for a |toilet break at 5am.

However, his suicide attempt failed as police managed to rush him to the hospital in time.

Trang police chief Pol Maj-General Daoloy Muendech and 10 other officers visited the man at Trang Hospital’s Emergency Room at 8am yesterday to check on his condition.

He is said to be in stable condition but has to stay a day or two at the hospital to recover.

His eight-year-old daughter was given a concoction of Krathom tea and soft drinks laced with yaba before being raped violently. She was later hospitalised with and acute stomach ache and signs of delirium on May 10.

The following day doctors said that the child had died from drug overdose.

Before dying, the child reportedly said she had been raped by somebody she knew. That lead to the arrest of a neighbour aged 20 and her father.