An Australian schoolboy was brutally stabbed to death front of a grocery store in Thailand.

Teetut Fazzalari, 14, was walking home when he was attacked by his bloodthirsty schoolmate at the Muntra Garden Home housing estate in Chonburi on December 10 evening.

CCTV footage shows the pair coming to blows in a shadowy yard in the estate. After a brief scuffle, Teetut stood up to walk home - only for the suspect to charge at him and plunge the blade into his back.

The critically injured schoolboy, who has an Australian father and Thai mother, managed to stagger toward the village security guard but collapsed on the steps of the nearby shop, where he died before medics could arrive. The suspect reportedly fled the scene on a motorcycle.

Police Colonel Thanapon Klinkesorn, superintendent of the Sattahip District Police Station, said they received a report at 8:31 pm. They later detained the suspect on suspicion of murder.

Officers arrived and found Teetut lying on his back in a pool of blood. The knife was protruding through his chest while its handle was found on the street nearby.

Village security guard Nattapon Saenyot said: 'I saw him walking out of the housing estate alone at around 8 pm. He returned 20 minutes later asking for help before collapsing at the store. I called a rescue team, but it was already too late for him.'

Teetut's distraught family were also at the scene shocked over his sudden passing.

His mother, Darunee Ponnaree, 50, said he mentioned being in conflict with an upperclassman at school.

She said: 'I saw him leave to play in the village but I didn't know when he went to the shop. He said he was having issues with a senior student from the same school.'

Teetut's older sister said the suspect had also allegedly sent threatening messages, which she told her sibling to ignore.

Police reviewed the CCTV footage in the area and tracked down the juvenile suspect, 14, at his home some 0.25 miles (400 metres) from the shop at 9:25 pm. He and his parents were taken to the Sattahip District Police Station for questioning.

The teenager said he and Teetut went to the same school together. He claimed that the deceased had 'looked at him as if asking for trouble' so he allegedly challenged him to meet outside of school before stabbing him.

He reportedly confessed: 'I stabbed him in the back before riding a motorcycle home. I didn't know it would cause him to die.'

Police Colonel Thanapon said: ‘The suspect was sent to the Chonburi Juvenile and Family Court to meet with a multidisciplinary team for interrogation. He will be informed of the charges before we proceed with legal action.

'The most severe charge is murder. If the evidence supports this, he will be prosecuted for murder.'

The Australian's body was sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok for a post-mortem exam.

The incident is the latest involving violent youths in Thailand.

In October 2023, a 14-year-old gunman opened fire in a shopping mall in Bangkok, killing three shoppers. While on January 12, teenage gangsters, including the sons of two local policemen, battered to death a woman, 47, in Sa Kaeo province.

Education expert Sompong Jitradub blamed the violence on a 'weak society'.

He said: 'As someone who has been working with children for 30 years, I can see that the new generation of children is gradually forming gangs, causing problems and unrest everywhere.

'This is because the school system lacks flexibility and space for children to express themselves and relax. It has become a space filled with authority and regulations. Therefore, it is impossible for any ministry or government department alone to address this issue. The government may need to take on the responsibility and tackle this problem seriously.'

The Department of Children and Youth Protection said there were 12,000 cases of youths committing crimes from 2022 to 2023.