Swedish Couple Sentenced To 15 Month In Jail.

[Goshawk]

sentenced to 1 year and 3 month in jail. Their crime- stole two T-shirts.

they got off lightly !

don't they still lob off your hands for this type of thing in Saudi..

[mrtoad]

I agree, although it looks like he may end up getting the death penalty, which he deserves if the appeal goes through. I'm a firm beleiver in tough sentencing, but it does need to be consistent, which is a big problem here in Thailand for a number of reasons, although even in the UK there have been some pretty strange sentencing decisions.

Yes, i also read about the appeal, a lot of the time in the UK, sentences are affected by many things, what mood the judge is in, political pressures, prison population etc etc.

FF

The final two are very pertinent. Many of the judges or magistrates depending on what court the offence is tried at, are having their hands tied because of political pressure, and more increasingly over population in the prisons. So for a lot of crimes in the UK, there really is very little deterent. If people spent anytime going to the courts, they'd be pretty shocked to see, how a core of people continue to reappear after multiple offences. I say on this one, good for Thailand, now they need to show that the same rulse apply for other segments of society.

[mrbojangles]

sentenced to 1 year and 3 month in jail. Their crime- stole two T-shirts.

they got off lightly !

don't they still lob off your hands for this type of thing in Saudi..

Yep. Although i have just been told that for this type of offence, they would probably have had just the end of their little finger cut off, as a warning.

[oceano]

What I find most surprising in this thread is the number of people

protesting that the sentence is too harsh. Those that say the

sentence should only be one month are forgetting

they are in Southeast Asia - This is Thailand

and I doubt very much if you are going to find " sentencing guidelines " here.

And doesnt anybody think there is even the remote chance

that the court was trying to set an example here not just for

tourists but also for local people in these hard economic times.

Tough sentences are meant to act to deter other potential shoplifters......

It's not a question of it only being 2 t shirts so the sentence

should only be light. And what would they have got if they did the same

in someone like the Middle East -Iran or Saudi Arabia-

maybe they would have gone back to Sweden missing something l

............maybe even a hand

Sorry that is only for citizen, egypt,dubai,saudi arabia, israel ecc they only take you in the jail for one week then they send you away whit a red stamp" never come back".

But when the first time i was in thailand they said to me to follows the rules and the culture of this people.......try to stolen money is the most good culture they have whit us..so i have to follows theyr rules?

Ops.. how much money they loose if after this the sweden governament say that is better dont go again in thailand?

Edited January 14, 2009 by oceano

[Crushdepth]

Jail time for stealing a couple of t-shirts? Stupid. Why not just hit them with a large fine then chuck them out of the country.

[Goshawk]

sentenced to 1 year and 3 month in jail. Their crime- stole two T-shirts.

they got off lightly !

don't they still lob off your hands for this type of thing in Saudi..

Yep. Although i have just been told that for this type of offence, they would probably have had just the end of their little finger cut off, as a warning.

this Saudi Cleric is spot on.. nobody dare nick anything over there.. a great deterent for a countries citizens..

(i'd even vote for David Cameron if he introduced this..)

[kalbo123]

A travel agency in Chiang mai sold me a plane ticket without delevering it....and did the same to many other farangs....

They are still open... and out of jail... funny thai justice works...

Two t shirts.. 15 month's, milions of bahts from farang, nothing...

[OxfordWill]

you are entitled to your opinion re their guilt, as i am to mine.

No, you're entitled to your best guess, anything else is a lie. And since none of us no anything whatsoever about the truth of this matter...

[H2oDunc]

Good, they also should be horsewhipped for good measure.

What a bunch of tools.

You assume they are guilty

Do you actually live in Thailand? Do you integrate with Thais? Can you discuss things with Thais in their own language? Your response indicates not

No They ARE guilty. They have been to court and found guilty. They have accepted the fact and taken a reduced sentence and given up the right to appeal.

I don't agree with the horse whipping which I took as a humourus response, OH and to your other queries then Yes, Yes and Yes

[JacknDanny]

Jail time for stealing a couple of t-shirts? Stupid. Why not just hit them with a large fine then chuck them out of the country.

Probably not got a pot to p#ss in, money wasnt forthcoming from home, hence the reason why the case went as far as it has.

[nick2k]

we all have our opinions. .

frankly, I would like to know EXACTLY where in patong these 2 swiss stole the t-shirts.

WHY would I want to know where they stole the shirts, you ask?

simple, I would not want to EVER take the chance of buying something from their shop.

could someone please post a photo of the shop? location? address?

you would be doing us foreigners a truly good deed by letting us know which shop to avoid. thank you.

BETTER yet. pass the word around to avoid buying any t-shirts in patong.

[Ulysses G.]

Yes, let's boycott a shop that had the audacity to turn in some thieves that were stealing from them.

Who cares how hard they have to work everyday to make ends meet. The poor, misunderstood, little Swiss tourists should be allowed to steal from the evil, capitalist pigs.

Edited January 14, 2009 by Ulysses G.

[parallaxtech]

Go to any Tesco and stand by the oranges. You will see entire families of Thais eat hundreds of baht worth of fruit. Is that shoplifting? Guess you would have to pump their stomachs to get the evidence even though there are security cameras everywhere. I still remember the advice given to me four years ago when I arrived here, "Thais have to follow twenty percent of the law; whereas farangs must follow one hundred twenty percent." In other words, would a Thai couple have received the same sentence?

Edited January 14, 2009 by parallaxtech

[sassienie]

When I was 8 years old, I stole £2 from my little 4 year old brother`s piggy bank.

He is deaf and dumb and I broke his fingers so he couldn`t tell anyone who stole his money.

But stealing teashirts. I`d never do anything as bad as that, have to draw the line somewhere.

15 months, too lenient. I say, give em the death penalty.

Edited January 14, 2009 by sassienie

[Ulysses G.]

Who among us has not done some very stupid things when we were/are young? No sympathy? When did your hearts get so cold?

When I started a business that is a lot of work and only makes a small profit and garbage like this started stealing from me.

Yes, I understand why retailers would be pissed off. But you are biased. They are just dumb kids. And they are not garbage if being shirt lifters is the extent of their high crimes.

had they been caught with a joint the same people who cry excess would be rallying to have them lynched.

the "you do the crime, do the time" crew seems to have a double standard.

Smoking a joint is a big crime, but stealing from some poor merchant is just a bit of youthful fun.

[cmsally]

Go to any Tesco and stand by the oranges. You will see entire families of Thais eat hundreds of baht worth of fruit. Is that shoplifting? Guess you would have to pump their stomachs to get the evidence even though there are security cameras everywhere. I still remember the advice given to me four years ago when I arrived here, "Thais have to follow twenty percent of the law; whereas farangs must follow one hundred twenty percent." In other words, would a Thai couple have received the same sentence?

Yes, this is very true, I've seen it many times. One time, a couple must have eaten their way through at least 100Bts worth of grapes. That's equal to 2 cheap Tshirts.

[JoeThePoster]

Swedes do not steal.

I suppose the prisons in Sweden are full of innocents and foreigners then.

[timi2546]

Swedes do not steal.

....prisons in Sweden are full of innocents ....

FINNS STEAL LESS !! :D :D

[TAWP]

Swedes do not steal.

I suppose the prisons in Sweden are full of innocents and foreigners then.

Offtopic, but yes, there is a problem with just that currently...foreign and foreign-descendant people taking up a majority of the spaces in some of our prisons.

It didn't help that we had one man from eastern Europe happily smash an older mans head in with a pipe just so he could get sentenced to jail after arriving to avoid poverty back home...

[warfie]

interesting discussion... keep it up guys...

[britmaveric]

Moral of the story - crime doesnt pay!!

[jcon]

Swedes do not steal.

I suppose the prisons in Sweden are full of innocents and foreigners then.

Offtopic, but yes, there is a problem with just that currently...foreign and foreign-descendant people taking up a majority of the spaces in some of our prisons.

It didn't help that we had one man from eastern Europe happily smash an older mans head in with a pipe just so he could get sentenced to jail after arriving to avoid poverty back home...

Yep, ask a Swede who are filling up the prisons and causing the problems in current society... and you'll get a pretty unanimous answer. I won't go there, but TAWPs reply pretty much says it. Maybe they won't tell you to your face as a non-Swede, but I guarantee they have thier own opinions that they keep among themselves... Entire sections of Stockholm have been entirely changed (and not for the better I assure you) from the current 'liberal' immigration policy. edit: and more telling is the massive increase of rapes in Sweden, and these aren't Swedish-born Swedes raping their own women... it's pretty shocking and disgusting to tell you the truth.

But I still stand my by statement that Swedes as a population have a pretty high moral standard.

Edited January 14, 2009 by jcon

[britmaveric]

^known for their drunken ways though!!!

[TAWP]

^known for their drunken ways though!!!

Offtopic, but correct. The 'weekend binge-drinking' is a farmer-legacy from the past 150 years when helpers was paid with overtime in alcohol and other things. Anyway, could become a long side-track, so let's just leave it to that. Yes, many drink too much.

[mrtoad]

Good, they also should be horsewhipped for good measure.

What a bunch of tools.

You assume they are guilty

Do you actually live in Thailand? Do you integrate with Thais? Can you discuss things with Thais in their own language? Your response indicates not

No They ARE guilty. They have been to court and found guilty. They have accepted the fact and taken a reduced sentence and given up the right to appeal.

I don't agree with the horse whipping which I took as a humourus response, OH and to your other queries then Yes, Yes and Yes

Cheers Dunc, on some things we don't always agree, but you could see the humour which certain people couldn't. Top sport.

[mrtoad]

Swedes do not steal.

I suppose the prisons in Sweden are full of innocents and foreigners then.

Offtopic, but yes, there is a problem with just that currently...foreign and foreign-descendant people taking up a majority of the spaces in some of our prisons.

It didn't help that we had one man from eastern Europe happily smash an older mans head in with a pipe just so he could get sentenced to jail after arriving to avoid poverty back home...

Yep, ask a Swede who are filling up the prisons and causing the problems in current society... and you'll get a pretty unanimous answer. I won't go there, but TAWPs reply pretty much says it. Maybe they won't tell you to your face as a non-Swede, but I guarantee they have thier own opinions that they keep among themselves... Entire sections of Stockholm have been entirely changed (and not for the better I assure you) from the current 'liberal' immigration policy. edit: and more telling is the massive increase of rapes in Sweden, and these aren't Swedish-born Swedes raping their own women... it's pretty shocking and disgusting to tell you the truth.

But I still stand my by statement that Swedes as a population have a pretty high moral standard.

I don't think that Sweden is alone, but I think we need to be careful about what we say.

[Kan Win]

The poor, misunderstood, little Swiss tourists

"Ulysses G", they are "Swedish"

Kan Win

[oceano]

Yes, let's boycott a shop that had the audacity to turn in some thieves that were stealing from them.

Who cares how hard they have to work everyday to make ends meet. The poor, misunderstood, little Swiss tourists should be allowed to steal from the evil, capitalist pigs.

Who cares how hard they have to work everyday...really? they pay some money to the police also..is not illegal?

They pay some money to the PAT PONG mafia for stay there is not illegal?

Then i see many time this poor people whit the new mitsubishi triton all whit full optional and a streo like discoteque....double price like when they buy...

i see this poor people buy a 3 or 4 milions house in my village...

That are not the very poor people sell food on the road, that are the thai mafia shop that they can sell all kind of copy, sex video, and other good things and you can see.

Why sometimes some very poor people try to sell a copy and the police take then in prison in 2 minute BuT all this shop are there from many yrs and nobody stop them?

Last things, im sure the 2 t-shirt was a copy that is illegal to sell also in thailand and the owner lie about 40.000 of t-shirt stolen...why him dont stay in the jail?

do you want that him close in 2 minute? take a picture of him in the shop whit the copy on the table and put in all site talk about thailand and one copy send to the police station near patpong.

ciao

Edited January 14, 2009 by oceano

[jeffer]

It's difficult in Thailand for an accused to plead not guilty if bail is refused, something judges are now very reluctant to grant to foreigners due to a long history of accused persons absconding before trial. In many cases it now doesn't matter what surety is offered or what level of representation is made by your embassy as the court assumes as a foreigner you will jump bail.

Pleading not guilty can mean being held on remand for anything up to two years in very poor conditions. Something relatively simple like asking for an interpretor can result in an adjournment of 90 days so in the end many people decide to plead guilty whether they are or not, otherwise who knows how long it will take to conclude the case. Always keep this in mind whenever you hear of a foreigner pleading guilty in a court case as a guilty plea might be made just to bring things to a conclusion, possibly to allow the pardon process to begin. Pleading guilty will often see a sentence halved which is likely the best you will get in a judicial system that doesn't really have the plea bargaining options you can find in other countries.

By the way, for those posters who always bring up the idea of repatriation so you can serve your sentence back home, it's a lengthy legal process and isn't afaik ever used for short sentences. It relies of course on there being in place an existing agreement between Thailand and the other country. The most recent case I'm aware of that allowed someone to complete the remainder of their sentence in their home country was for someone who had already served 16 years in Thailand! 

[girlx]

Yep, ask a Swede who are filling up the prisons and causing the problems in current society... and you'll get a pretty unanimous answer.

so, ask the thais the same and guess who they would say?