Thai media report "Irishman" on 4,000 day overstay - GoFundMe started to help him

 

Picture: Naew Na

 

Naew Na reported that Nakorn Ratchasima Immigration and the tourist police had arrested an Irishman at a restaurant in Soi Moo Ban Yamo 5, Ban Mai, Nakorn Ratchasima.

 

A check of the PIBICS system revealed that Samuel Caleb Birch was on an overstay of 4,192 days.

 

The media said that he had come into Thailand through Pedang Besar (on the Thai Malaysia border) on January 17th 2008 with permission to stay until 15th April 2008. 

 

A GoFundMe account has been started for Mr Birch by a friend called Annie Radford and news of this appeal has been circulating on expat sites in Thailand. 

 

Thaivisa understands that Mr Birch - who uses a different name on Facebook -  is from Taunton in Somerset and has two young children. He has a Thai wife.

 

Last night he was in contact with Thaivisa from his detention cell. He said that he was not a demon and was a good father who was just trying to help his family.

 

He said that he had been treated very well by the Thai authorities.

 

He said that things had gone off the rails when both his parents died this year. He promised more details today.

 

The Go Fund Me account had a target of 1000 pounds sterling and as of this morning the page indicated that four people had donated 260 pounds. 

 

Source: Naew Na

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-07-16

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"treated very well by the Thai authorities"  yet they put a pig's head on him?  The Irish will love that!

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

He said that things had gone off the rails when both his parents died this year

Yes, but what about the other 9 or 10 years?

Why are so many berks out here abusing the spirit of the go fund me fund that suppose to help people in real need? why is it that every screw up and a moron thinks that the public is there to bail them out the very shit they, knowingly, put themselves in?...

Lazy or stupid, or both?  No wonder Thai IO and authorities are cracking down.  Bad apples.  Needs to own up to this instead of starting a gofundme.

24 minutes ago, webfact said:

He said that he was not a demon and was a good father who was just trying to help his family.

I wonder how he made money to support and "help his family" since 2008? 

He did not leave Thailand during that time according to his passport stamp.

3 minutes ago, Skallywag said:

I wonder how he made money to support and "help his family" since 2008? 

 

Plenty of time to have saved the maximum fine expected that he knew he'd have to pay eventually. 20,000 Baht I believe.

Was he just sitting there having a meal and they walked in or what?

1000 pounds not going to get him very far

Someone knows how to game the system. Maybe he thought no visa, no 90day, no tm30, no extension. I can easily stay here for 11 years ????

Wonder why he did not get bored not to go somewhere else, esp. to his home country, in all that time. Good luck.

No change, they are still dead.

Um No ! They were alive 8 of the other years! Report said died “this year “


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I feel sorry for the kids, they will not be seeing papa for at least the next ten years, or will it be a for life blacklist?

3 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

"Complete strangers in random acts of kindness"??  What what do you know.  Maybe that screwdriver is just a general purpose tool that can be used in whatever way the a person feels its needed.  Or should we check with the tool manufacturer to find out what the "spirit" of the screwdriver is?

 

Strawman argument. But regardless, the man committed a criminal offence under Thai laws, and has been doing so for almost 12 years. His defence that "things went bad in the last year" does not excuse his flaunting of the law for the previous 11.

53 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

"treated very well by the Thai authorities"  yet they put a pig's head on him?  The Irish will love that!

The guy on the far right lent him his mask

Just now, wreckingcountry said:

Um No ! They were alive 8 of the other years! Report said died “this year “


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He was expecting it and lived in trepidation.

Just now, Orton Rd said:

I feel sorry for the kids, they will not be seeing papa for at least the next ten years, or will it be a for life blacklist?

Life probably, the kids will lose their Irish accent.

38 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Was he just sitting there having a meal and they walked in or what?

That was my first thought.  I have never been sitting in a restaurant and had anyone come in and asked for my passport. Read similar quite often.

Just now, toofarnorth said:

That was my first thought.  I have never been sitting in a restaurant and had anyone come in and asked for my passport. Read similar quite often.

He chose the wrong restaurant, probably a drugs raid and he was caught without a visa.

7 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

He was expecting it and lived in trepidation.

No sorry, the OP says that he lived in Nakorn Ratchsima. 

3 minutes ago, toofarnorth said:

That was my first thought.  I have never been sitting in a restaurant and had anyone come in and asked for my passport. Read similar quite often.

Me too 20 years of living here, did someone drop him in it?

16 minutes ago, Seismic said:

Strawman argument.

 

 

I don't think you know what that phrase means. 

 

An assertion was made that Go Fund Me should be used in only certain ways that the poster deems to be within the "spirit" of the organization. I simply posted a snippet from the org itself showing that anyone is free to use it however they like. That is a direct refutation of the assertion that was made.

 

The rest of your post has nothing to do with what I said.

It is not just the overstay, how has he financed himself? was he illegally working? paid his taxes?

Certainly must been a drain on society if he can not find £1,000 without resorting to "Go Fund Me"

 

Nether mind he can claim benefits when he gets back to Somerset and even more if he brings his kids back with him.

We have to admit when he decided to go under the radar all them years ago it was a lot easier and maybe he thought if he did get caught just pay the 20k on the way out not thinking that the rules would change along the way like they have, by that time he was in to deep then what would be his options? not many I guess knowing full well he would be banned for life.

Im not condoning what he's done and years ago lots of guys never did visa runs got caught and came back a few weeks later

1 hour ago, Skallywag said:

I wonder how he made money to support and "help his family" since 2008? 

He did not leave Thailand during that time according to his passport stamp.

He has been working 

7 minutes ago, Basil B said:

It is not just the overstay, how has he financed himself? was he illegally working? paid his taxes?

Certainly must been a drain on society if he can not find £1,000 without resorting to "Go Fund Me"

 

Nether mind he can claim benefits when he gets back to Somerset and even more if he brings his kids back with him.

There is another problem do the kids have British passports? Im not sure about claiming benefits having been out of the country so long

1 minute ago, hanbla said:

He has been working 

Maybe the restaurant was his or his wife's

59 minutes ago, cerox said:

Wonder why he did not get bored not to go somewhere else, esp. to his home country, in all that time. Good luck.

Ever been to Taunton?????

 

He is over 10 years on overstay but things went badly this year after his parents died? What happened to previous 9 years?

 

for the life of me I do not understand why people put themselves in such predicaments.

 

if it’s financial , is it not wiser to return to home country to provide better care for kids ?

13 minutes ago, Basil B said:

It is not just the overstay, how has he financed himself? was he illegally working? paid his taxes?

Certainly must been a drain on society if he can not find £1,000 without resorting to "Go Fund Me"

 

Nether mind he can claim benefits when he gets back to Somerset and even more if he brings his kids back with him.

He has been working, illegally obviously. Why he went to GoFundMe? Well, you know, it's always easier if someone else pay.

It was all good till he got caught, now he's begging.

 

Bet he had a constant chuckle with his mates.

 

Things went badly after his parents died - yeah, the free money stopped flowing in.