Family of South African jailed in Thailand remain hopeful

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, Leadidge said:

What makes her an idiot? Signing for a delivery is a completely normal thing to do. 

That's just her version of events.   

 

International drug trafficking isn't completely normal and that's what she was indicted for.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Liverpool Lou

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, Leadidge said:

“Drug dealing shank” <deleted>????? She signed for a delivery package…..that’s it! 
Or do you know more?If so, you should share your knowledge!

It not difficult to know more.  She wasn't indicted for "signing for a delivery", she was arrested in possession of the drugs and indicted for trafficking.

[sawadee1947]

She will get what she deserves. 

At least some time in Thai prison.

☺️

[Sparktrader]

12 hours ago, Soikhaonoiken said:

If you do the crime, expect to do the time.... 

What crime? Says she signed a package.

[Sparktrader]

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

She signed for it!

I signed for deliveries like shoes. If drugs were inside i wouldnt know.

 

Sounds suss

[Sparktrader]

7 hours ago, wombat said:

I disagree....I'm on a working holiday in a foreign country and somehow I'm Johnny on the spot to sign for a package I know nothing about.?

Not a chance.

She is 22yo. Bit of a bimbo. Not Al Capone.

[Chelseafan]

10 hours ago, TheFishman1 said:

She just signed for a package totally not justified I often sign for packages from my neighbor when it comes and they’re not home I think in the future I’ll never do that again TiT

According to her family....

 

[daveAustin]

9 hours ago, LikeItHot said:

And once again the party life leads to death or imprisonment. I feel bad for the parents only. For the drug dealing skank.... let the violins play.  Sorry. No sympathy for the intergalactic ally stupid.

 

13 hours ago, Soikhaonoiken said:

If you do the crime, expect to do the time.... 

Pathetic comments. Take a look at yourselves guys. Tough if you’re baby boomers I know, but…

[Sparktrader]

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

It not difficult to know more.  She wasn't indicted for "signing for a delivery", she was arrested in possession of the drugs and indicted for trafficking.

Drugs should be legal. 

[dkg224]

I have restaurant here and almost all the packages i get delivered there are signed for by my staff because they delivery in the morning and I'm usually not there.  So it would be completely normal for someone to sign for a package for their boss.

But the story has so many details missing. I've seen this story for months popping up on news sites and facebook groups.  But nowhere do they ever give the whole story;

So was the package addressed to her or in her boyfriends name?

Did her boyfriend also get arrested or she the only one to take the fall?

Did her and her boyfriend live in a 10,000 baht a month home and drive scooters everywhere?  Or were they living large in a pool villa with cars and a Ducati collection?  The reason for this, if they were just living a simple life, and she wasn't with him for years, it could be very plausible she didn't know what he was up to, but if it was the latter and they were living it up it would be hard to believe she had no idea.

But if if she had just signed for a package in his name, I know this is Thailand but with lawyers and a trial I hardly doubt she would be convicted just on signing for the package.  They must have some proof, messages, surveillance ect showing she knew what was coming in the box, even if it was to her boyfriend.

[ukrules]

10 hours ago, ezzra said:

It is indeed a pickle of a situation where too many questions still hangs in the air and without proper representations or appeal she will rot in jail, still death sentence commuted to life is way too harsh for such an offence in my opinion...

Indeed, someone local around here cut another guys throat and he did about 2 years in prison for it, this was maybe 4 or 5 years ago and he's been out for a long time now.

 

Apparently that was quite inconvenient for him, a whole 2 years for killing one of his yabba buddies by slashing his throat with a machete.

 

This demonstrates their priorities quite clearly.

[pedro01]

12 hours ago, TheFishman1 said:

She just signed for a package totally not justified I often sign for packages from my neighbor when it comes and they’re not home I think in the future I’ll never do that again TiT

Well, thats her story.

 

Most people in jail claim they are innocent.

[pedro01]

7 hours ago, Twod0gs said:

It is quite obvious from reading the comments in this group that virtually none of you have read the full story, or the confession by her boyfriend.

If you don't know the full story how can you fairly come to such vilifying conclusions. This was a naïve young girl pretty much straight out of school who was taken advantage of by greedy, uncaring older men - not an unusual scenario especially in this part of the world.. She had no history of drug taking and no drugs or paraphernalia were found in the search of her apartment. All she wanted to do was travel the world and do good by teaching young (Thai) children. She was apparently held in high regard by parents and loved by her colleagues and kids. Hardly the profile of a hardened drug smuggler.

Give the poor girl a fair go and cease with all the disparaging remarks.

Let us hope that common sense and justice rule - she has already spent way too much time in a Thai jail for something that would not even result in arrest, let alone conviction, in the civilised world.

She just wanted to travel the world and do drugs.

 

Of course she knew her bf was a dealer, she was getting free pills from him...

 

I have no problem with it.

 

Each country has their own rules though. She got caught in a net. Eyes were on them.

 

It's unlucky but she'll be transferred back home in 6 or 7 years and then released.

 

But she's there because of her choices

[pedro01]

11 hours ago, Bundooman said:

I don't agree with that view at all.

She may not have known her boyfriend was a dealer. Why would he tell her? She appears to have known him for only a short while.

We would all possibly do the same as her - sign for a package addressed to him - she may have been asked to do that, and why would she find anything suspicious about it?

He, on the other hand, would likely be the type to divert suspicion on himself by asking her to sign.

That is the other side to your argument - it's just an alternative way of looking at things, yes?

How could she NOT know he was dealing?

 

Drug dealers at his level are always hustling for customers.

[Dogmatix]

7 hours ago, Bogbrush said:

I’ve just read the freeashley site; it’s somewhat hysterically written and repetitive and I think that accusing the Thai judicial system as systemically corrupt and the Samui police of running a rape/torture camp will do nothing to help her case - it badly and urgently needs a rewrite. 

The story itself would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic; an American expelled from 12 schools and dishonourably discharged from the USMC becomes an excellent science teacher in Samui before moving to the Ukraine to study medicine (?!) but before doing that he buys a biscuit shop - as one does - and arranges with another teacher to import illegal drugs which all seem to pass scrutiny of the postal services involved (including the UK Royal Mail). 

We now fast forward to Ashley’s arrest. Disregarding the ‘it’s not my parcel/I can’t read Thai’ scenario - all of which has some valid points - we look at the astonishing fact that not one but by my count three lawyers, including a European, extract payment and do a runner, one even working for a firm that allegedly doesn’t exist. 

So far so bizarre, but it gets worse; the other teacher involved admits everything to his supervisor who then, with the agreement of the headmaster (?!) covers everything up. 

We need a good ending, and of course we get it; the boyfriend Tristan admits to everything - although if he did this from the safety of the Ukraine/US is not clear. Oh, and I forgot the two million baht ‘buried treasure’…. 

I don’t wish ill on anyone and I hope Ashley gets somewhere with her appeal - guilty or not, the sentence seems hugely disproportionate for the weight/type involved - but the silver lining is a hell of book/film deal…

Good summary. It's all very weird. Don't international schools do background checks on teachers? A home country police clearance is needed for PR and Thai citizenship. I would have thought an expensive international would want to make the same effort to protect its students from rapists, pedos, druggies etc. 

 

Burying US$60k in a hole in the ground in Thailand before going off to Ukraine also seems odd in a man who was used to trading cryptos you can access from anywher

 

Feel sorry for Ashley.  She seems genuinely young and naive.  It is not clear whether she knew or had an idea what Nettles was up to. She obviously joined in with his high octane party life style and must have noticed he was spending more cash than a teacher could afford and probably knew he was doing drugs. Maybe did some too but not necessarily so. She does seem to have been of a Basset hound following her master around and taking all types of abuse from the arrogant sod.  It is quite possible that she had no idea what was in the package or what was going on. Even if she did, it is hard to understand why the court sentenced her to death for smuggling a fairly small quantity of MDMD.  The death penalty is not mandatory for drug smuggling and is normally handed down in far more serious cases. 

 

With any luck the Russians have blown Nettles to smithereens by now.

 

[Marco100]

Yeah we read about tsunamis of wath ever pills but let's focus on some idiot falangs ????????????

[steven100]

3 hours ago, daveAustin said:

 

Pathetic comments. Take a look at yourselves guys. Tough if you’re baby boomers I know, but…

drugs are wrong and most intelligent folk know this .....   you obviously didn't heed those words from elders

[steven100]

1 hour ago, pedro01 said:

But she's there because of her choices

the defense rests your honor  !!     everyone knows right from wrong    !!

[pedro01]

14 minutes ago, steven100 said:

drugs are wrong and most intelligent folk know this .....   you obviously didn't heed those words from elders

We are on a rock, travelling at 1000mph through an expanding universe.

 

The idea that another human can tell you what to do, what to putin your body or where to locate yourself is ludicrous.

 

Still, society is what it is. 

[pedro01]

5 minutes ago, steven100 said:

the defense rests your honor  !!     everyone knows right from wrong    !!

It is nothing to do with right and wrong.

[steven100]

24 minutes ago, pedro01 said:

It is nothing to do with right and wrong.

it has everything to do with knowing right from wrong ....  please explain what part of wrong don't you understand

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by steven100

[unblocktheplanet]

17 hours ago, Soikhaonoiken said:

If you do the crime, expect to do the time.... 

Who made you the judge?!? Waddya, some kind of religious, black-or-white, guilty-or-innocent nutjob? Sometimes people are careless or are in the wrong place at the wrong time or make bad friends. Takes a real human to show some compassion for a 22-year old who could be any of our daughters. Shame on you!

[steven100]

1 hour ago, pedro01 said:

How could she NOT know he was dealing?

 

Drug dealers at his level are always hustling for customers.

you really can't be that naïve surely .....    Lol 

[steven100]

6 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Sometimes people are careless

so people are careless getting involved in drugs ....     Lol      if you choose the wrong path suffer the consequences. 

[Jimbo53]

15 hours ago, Pique Dard said:

 

allow me to doubt a bit! why to sign a package you haven't ordered? the address of the package was in whose name? two questions, two reasons to be suspicious

I have ordered stuff to be delivered to the house and my gf has signed for them,quite a normal practice in Thailand,good luck to the girl.

[MrJ2U]

14 hours ago, Pique Dard said:

incomes from the restaurant...

In Koh Samui during the pandemic.

 

Probably the reason he began selling drugs in earnest.

[DavisH]

This guy has facebook and is posting on it...lol....he is walking scot free. What a sack of proverbial. So I guess the police think it her drugs and he has nothing to do with it. 

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1493543082

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by DavisH

[Dumbfounded]

[Jonathan Swift]

17 hours ago, Pique Dard said:

 

allow me to doubt a bit! why to sign a package you haven't ordered? the address of the package was in whose name? two questions, two reasons to be suspicious

Could be a valid point, but some people just don't think about such things, someone shows up with a package, sign on the line, why not? It would be routine under many normal circumstances in other countries. Could be just extreme gullible stupidity. Or naiveté.

[Jonathan Swift]

17 hours ago, chang1 said:

There must be a bit more to this than just a signature. 

She must have known what her boyfriend was upto and what work was she doing? 

Seems odd that the appeal court will not allow any new evidence to be considered. So even if there is video evidence of her boyfriend forging her signature when accepting the package, that proves her innocence beyond doubt, only the original evidence will be looked at.

It may sound odd, but in the US it's the same. An appeals court only looks at the decision of the lower court solely based on  the evidence and testimony presented at the first trial, and decides whether there was any error of law, or whether the defendant's rights were denied or infringed, or whether the evidence PRESENTED AT THE TIME did not justify the court's decision . If the court were to find that exonerating evidence was withheld improperly, or that the defendant didn't receive adequate or lawfully competent representation, then a new trial can be ordered, or the conviction reversed. But the appeal doesn't RETRY the case. If it finds error, it will order a new one. In the US, a new trial can be requested separately from an appeal, based on NEW evidence, that is a different sort of action. I have absolutely NO IDEA as to Thai law in this regard. 

Edited February 26, 2022 by Jonathan Swift