Aussie Arrested In Phuket Over Mat Theft

[tig28]

Aussie arrested in Phuket over mat theft

11:01 AEST Tue May 19 2009

Australian embassy officials in Thailand are providing consular assistance to a Melbourne woman charged with stealing a bar mat from a bar in Phuket.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed the 36-year-old woman was arrested on May 3, charged with theft and subsequently released on bail.

A court hearing was scheduled for Monday, and the embassy was seeking the outcome of that hearing.

"Consular officials from the Australian embassy, Bangkok, and from DFAT in Canberra have provided extensive consular assistance to the woman and her family," she said.

Annice Smoel from Montrose in Melbourne's northeast, told Fairfax Radio Network in Melbourne she spent four nights in a four-by-four metre jail with three other inmates before being released on bail.

She was arrested by undercover police after leaving the Aussie Bar with friends while celebrating her mother's 60th birthday.

Police alleged she had stolen a bar mat and put it in her handbag.

Smoel insisted she was innocent of the theft which was committed by a friend who subsequently confessed to the police but was told to go away.

"I have been treated unfairly and held here for something I didn't do," Smoel said.

"They know I didn't do it, they have video evidence and one of the girls who was involved went down to the police on Sunday morning and confessed to the crime and apologised and they told her to go away, they didn't care."

Police confiscated Smoel's passport.

Her husband Darren is with her in Thailand while her mother is now caring for her four daughters aged six, eight, 11 and 12.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says all available consular assistance is being provided to Smoel.

"I've just been advised about this, the Foreign Minister and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are on top of this case," Mr Rudd told reporters in Melbourne.

"They are providing every level of consular assistance to the family and the individual concerned."

He said the consular assistance provided to Australians was practical and provided as quickly as possible.

"We take seriously that job, there are one million Australians at any one time officially working or travelling in hundreds of countries around the world," he said.

"Let all the facts be established first."

Victorian Premier John Brumby said the state government was doing all it could to bring Smoel home.

He said Attorney-General Rob Hulls had been in contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.

"She's a Victorian and we want to get her back," Mr Brumby told Fairfax Radio.

He said the woman and her friends were only having fun and the actions of Thai authorities would deter visitors at a time when the country needed tourists.

"There doesn't seem to be any more to this than meets the eye," Mr Brumby said.

"It's a simple fact, they were having fun, they took the bar mat off... they put it in the lady's handbag... there's nothing there, they were just having fun.

"We'll do everything we can to get her back.

"I would have thought for the Thai government and the Thai authorities, at a time of the global financial crisis, this isn't going to help them.

"Who'd go to Thailand for a holiday if you can get arrested for having fun in a bar?"

LINK: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/815351...-over-mat-theft

[angiud]

Topic already http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Australian-W...et-t266333.html

[cat5]

"It's a simple fact, they were having fun, they took the bar mat off... they put it in the lady's handbag... there's nothing there, they were just having fun.

Fun or not, it was still theft. Having said that, it does seem they got the wrong woman and four nights in jail is excessive when the bar mat probably cost about 40 baht. I reckon there's probably more to this story.

[MeetJohnDoe]

What is a "bar mat"?

And why is it that whenever a Roo commits a crime and is arrested for it in a foreign country it seems the entire nation gets in a lather. Like that drug-smuggler girl in Bali awhile back...She (and her whole family) were drug smugglers and she gets caught and everyone in Rooland blames the Indonesians for catching her. (By the way, did she every get the noose for her crime?)

[sbk]

Please check the forum before opening a thread, this is the third thread I have closed or merged regarding this topic

Please post here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Australian-W...et-t266333.html