Minivdo: Phuket Police Impose Strict Patrols For Yachts After A Foreign Yacht Skipper Was Attacked By A Foreign Robber Who Died.

[stevenl]

We would like to ask Sir Burr or moderator to retract his early statement that this was "TV Channel 11's usual shoddy reporting the news"

Don't be overly sensitive. He asked a question, and yjudging from the later reports you got it right.

[Somtamnication]

I think that you, CH11, are being way too sensitive. Shoddy reporting? Not really. But clearly you guys need to learn to news read (multiple mistakes while reading the news), sound control (whistling in the background) which forces me to turn the volume down, so I end up changing the channel from that god forsaken 90.5 radio dial and grammar issues need resolved.

You do provide a good service, but please, do not O´Rilley the rest of us into thinking that you are the créme de la créme of local news reporting.

ON TOPIC. I fail to see anything suspicious about the lady in question. The dead guy clearly was dressed for diving, had his bag with many goodies and the Swiss Captain Stoobing clearly was an idiot for letting a stranger on to the boat. Don´t our parents always tell us to not let strangers in the "how"?

If Capt. Stoobing was up to no good with the lovely 24 year old lady, he would be hard pressed to push her out the back door if wife and kids arrive. So she had the right to be there, didn´t she?

We would like to ask Sir Burr or moderator to retract his early statement that this was "TV Channel 11's usual shoddy reporting the news&quot...

[Mosha]

Jason Bourne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Bourne

The Parrot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Parrot

Glad to be of assistance

[Master Chief]

Shown in the picture are, in the back, the skippers flare gun with 4 pcs of flare shells,

front in picture, the robber's handmade double barreled gun.

[grantbkk]

...We have always tried our best to to report the news ...

I for one would like to see a picture of the girl. Maybe it will help up get to the bottom of this.

[thaigah]

So Herr Oberson has been circumnavigating the globe (according to Blick newspaper) for 8 years, and he is not sure if he can continue his journey!

According to the Chalong Police, he came to Thailand with his wife and 2 young kids (born on board?). Come on, Swiss Family Oberson, what are you made of? Another 20 years and you'll be sailing back into Lausanne or thereabouts.

[mikethevigoman]

The reported cause of death doesn't make sense. Although I haven't seen the corpse, I'd like to know if there was any blunt force trauma to his head, i....

Great post, ! are you inspector colombo ?

[cobalto]

I could be wrong, (I often am), but I think Jason Bourne is a spy character out of one of Robert Ludlum's books. I guess he had a reputation for making lethal weapons from innocuous household items. Perhaps it's not the diver's real name.

Aren't you talking about MacGyver?

[cobalto]

...If the truth really is an attempted robbery, I don't see anything trajic about it.

The tragedy will be when he meets with his wife (should I say ex-wife?!)...

[cobalto]

One could assume the owner of the boat murdered a man with a knife, then had the girlfriend shoot him in the shoulder with a gun he kept aboard the boat to make it look justified. Just a thought.

What a great novel this would make !

And he had all the "ïngredients" to make that homemade shotgun... Interesting...

So the guy dead was Jason Bourne and the skipper was MacGyver! Am I getting there?

[meelousee]

Ok I can see this

The dead pirate is Michael Jansom, husband of Ponthip Jansom

No no no.. OK Ok. k it is her brother in-law whose visa expired in 2005 and needs money to fix things

Humm no bites on that one.

Ok then the dead pirate is an x Blackwater employee that is broke due to his job loss and wants to go back to Switzerland or New Zealand

Sorry for the offensive stuff above but, the whole story reeks of BS

[geriatrickid]

To the folks at Channel 11;

We would like to ask Sir Burr or moderator to retract his early statement that this was "TV Channel 11's usual shoddy reporting the news" as we believe we did get it right this time: the boat was at Kata, not Chalong; we did not say anything about drinking for an hour to keep the report brief on TV, and the police informed our Thai reporter that the robber was shot as well as injured by objects.

I didn't attach a negative impression to your report. However, there have been some issues in past reports about accuracy. No one's perfect, but maybe you might wish to take the reporting to a different level by asking questions. For example, when the police informed the reporter, perhaps it would have been useful to ask some questions of the police officer.

we respect people's right to privacy, for example the woman involved in this instance.

And that's something I think everyone appreciates and is grateful for. There are news sources (pattaya anyone?) that take great delight in plastering pictures and names of parties without any respect to basic privacy or possible outcomes and Channel 11 isn't like that.

We feel it is an insult to call our reporting shoddy, unless you back it up with true evidence.

Such comments are par for the course. It happens to journalists everywhere and is part of the job. They just shrug it off. Consider it a badge of honour that people are paying attention.

We hope others support us in what is a difficult job. We have been reporting local Andaman News since March 2004 and receive very few criticisms but also little support. We hope Thai Visa appreciates our contributions.

I can't speak for others, but I'm sure alot of people are appreciative of Channel 11's efforts and recognize it's not an easy job at times. Perhaps folks just want you to be the best that you can be, and that's not such a bad thing. Thank you for your reporting activities.

[maluko]

Beware of Phuket ! It's becoming like the Strait of Malacca in there !

[seri thai]

Just to follow the Columbo thing, I see the photos of the body show the wounds on the front of the arm and below the right eye. The boat hook is also shown,with a broken shaft. Boathooks are (unsurprisingly) hook shaped so for this guy to receive these wounds he would probably have to have been hooked from behind..............

If he was face down in the water I can see the wounds being inflicted by those who recovered the body. Either way theres lots more to the story, especially when he's identified.

This wont be the first death after a falling out on a boat in Thailand...

The young lady seems to have been pretty handy with the flares too..

[grantbkk]

Ok I can see this

The dead pirate is Michael Jansom, husband of Ponthip Jansom

No no no.. OK Ok. k it is her brother in-law whose visa expired in 2005 and needs money to fix things

Humm no bites on that one.

Ok then the dead pirate is an x Blackwater employee that is broke due to his job loss and wants to go back to Switzerland or New Zealand

Sorry for the offensive stuff above but, the whole story reeks of BS

This is BS of the highest order. Who is paying for the gas for the increased pirate/terrorist patrols in the marinas? Are the water police asking for used cooking oil to convert to bio-diesel for that purpose? Has the advance weapon been located in the slop yet? So many questions.

[jstumbo]

I could be wrong, (I often am), but I think Jason Bourne is a spy character out of one of Robert Ludlum's books. I guess he had a reputation for making lethal weapons from innocuous household items. Perhaps it's not the diver's real name.

Aren't you talking about MacGyver?

MacGyver never used a gun, and his inventions were never lethal.

[huggybear]

The dead diver found in the sea. His name is Jason Bourne.

well done Sir Burr I quite liked that, actually laughed out loud!

And this is the reason I very seldom follow any thread on Thai Visa. Someone died and as the true store isn't out but we get this trivial

Yes, I feel we should ban humour on the Forum. Good post BKKbill

Hope the guys that missed the Jason Bourne quip can keep up!

[Afra]

The Deceased is already identified and his embassy is informed. Let him rest in peace as he received the ultimate punishment for his wrong doing already.

[pgrin]

To see or download mini-video, go to http://news.prd.go.th/news_detail.php?newsid=215900

...

Point of information:

The tool pictured in the center photo appears to be a fish gaff, not a boat hook. I fish gaff has a sharp point and is used to help land/board a large fish caught on a line. It is used by submerging the hook below the fish in the water and pulled rapidly upward impaling the fish from below and then used to hoist the fish over the side of the boat. It is a very dangerous tool/weapon. A boat hook on the other hand has dull tips on it and it is used to catch dock lines and mooring lines. It can be used as a weapon also but is not nearly as lethal.

P

[IAMSOBAD]

Any new reports about this boat captain...his thai girlfriend...2 boat kids...sad and lonely wife...and the terrorist pirate? What a joke. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED...sex/money/greed/deception/=crime.

[Maestro]

The tool pictured in the center photo appears to be a fish gaff...

Thank you. I had been wondering what that thing is called. Never seen anything like that before, but then I’m not a fisherman.

--

Maestro

[roygsd]

Perhaps the elusive Micky Finn has finally surfaced ?

[tmifune]

The Deceased is already identified and his embassy is informed. Let him rest in peace as he received the ultimate punishment for his wrong doing already.

Can you tell us who he was? I was in Phuket a year ago and he looks strangely familiar to me.

[vanalli]

Peter Michael Schmid.

Edited January 15, 2008 by vanalli

[huggybear]

Peter Michael Schmid.

So it wasn't Jason Bourne........................

[geriatrickid]

Reading the Phuket threads I have the impression that Phuketeers (or is Phukotians?) are certainly are a hardy rational bunch of people with a good grip on reality and a very healthy sense of humour. Maybe it's the demographics. I dunno. If this had been one of the news headline threads, the forum would have been filled with all sorts of oddball conspiracies (e.g. Angry woman with a grudge theory that it's a manifestation of corrupt thai culture which crushes the people, robbing them of a will to live and their right to frolic at the seashore or the bitter old man upset because he finds out his ladyfriend has 5 other bfs suggesting this is part of a vast conspiracy to take advantage of innocent gentlemen, or the standard flake that proposes this was a foreign spy agency plot gone wrong and that the only solution is to run brain wave scans of the witnesses.)

[baabaabobo]

Slain frogman identified

KARON: After days of intense speculation, Chalong Police investigating the bizarre death of a frogman who attacked a Swiss yacht owner and a Thai woman on the night of January 9 have finally identified the attacker as German national Peter Michael Schmid, aged 35.

The investigation by Chalong Police included showing pictures of the deceased frogman to hotel employees in Kata-Karon and Rawai.

Chalong Police Superintendent Col Samarn Chainarong told the Gazette that police still believe the attack was a botched robbery because Schmid had a gun, knife and back electrical tape with him when he boarded the vessel, a 10-meter sailboat named Maria.

Schmid was also thought to have been suffering from stomach cancer at the time of his death, Col Samarn added.

Most of the details of the attack, as provided to the media at a press conference on January 10, are based on the eye-witness account of 25-year-old Trat native Porntip Pradit. (Click here for original report.)

After the attack, Schmid’s body was recovered by police and rescue workers about 70 meters from Maria. He had sustained two large wounds: one to under his left eye and the other to his left wrist, inflicted by a gaff, or boat hook, kept aboard Maria.

Doctors at Vachira Phuket Hospital confirmed that the cause of death was blood loss from the wound to his wrist, Col Samarn said.

The victim Mr Orberson, 50, was rushed to Phuket International Hospital, where he was initially kept in the Intensive Care Unit for a gunshot wound to his shoulder.

He was released on Saturday, before he could be questioned by police.

Chalong Police say they know where Mr Oberson is and that they plan to question him soon. They will have to file murder charges against him as a matter of procedure, though they expect the charges to be dropped eventually because all of the available evidence indicates that he was acting in self-defense.

Mr Oberson had come to Thailand with his wife and two young children, a boy and a girl, all three of whom were staying at a resort on Koh Racha Yai when the incident took place, Col Samarn said.

Col Samarn confirmed reports that Schmid was wearing a wetsuit bearing the name and logo of Dive Asia, a local dive tour operator, at the time of his death.

A spokesperson for Dive Asia confirmed that a man named Peter Michael Schmid completed a dive course with the operator within the past three years, but declined to give additional information.

From the Phuket Gazette

[Smithson]

Slain frogman identified

They will have to file murder charges against him as a matter of procedure, though they expect the charges to be dropped eventually because all of the available evidence indicates that he was acting in self-defense.

Is this normal procedure? Sounds a bit unfair.

[phuketsub]

Slain frogman identified

They will have to file murder charges against him as a matter of procedure, though they expect the charges to be dropped eventually because all of the available evidence indicates that he was acting in self-defense.

Is this normal procedure? Sounds a bit unfair.

It's normal procedure. By the way, the Thai language newspaper Siangtai reported today that police suspect Schmid was trying to rob the boat so he could pay for treatment of intestinal cancer.

I still think we need a weapons expert to shed some light on what kind of gun that was...

[jumnien]

Slain frogman identified

They will have to file murder charges against him as a matter of procedure, though they expect the charges to be dropped eventually because all of the available evidence indicates that he was acting in self-defense.

Is this normal procedure? Sounds a bit unfair.

It's normal procedure. By the way, the Thai language newspaper Siangtai reported today that police suspect Schmid was trying to rob the boat so he could pay for treatment of intestinal cancer.

I still think we need a weapons expert to shed some light on what kind of gun that was...

Don't Germans have state health care?