Beer Mat Mum Follow Up

[TheLaughingMan]

mc2

Seriously you have a strange way of looking things. How you connect the dots in this fashion and blame people endlessly is beyond me. You seem to particularly like to go after women. I must be unaware of the massive influx of white female criminals into Thailand lately. It's obviously common knowledge and I'm just out of the loop.

Please, go back and reread all the reports and articles. Simply, the woman was not guilty, not even a little bit and everyone knows this. The person who committed the "crime" immediately confessed, this confession was disregarded and they were told to go away. That's all there is to it, someone comes forward and admits to a crime you are accused of then they should be punished not you. This goes beyond common sense.

What really bothers me is the security camera and the security staff all saw who actually put the mat in the bag, but they insisted on going after the bag owner like she was the ring leader in some massively orchestrated mat stealing operation, if this was the case, why would the actual perpetrator confess immediately and try to take responsibility?

[waikhru]

she was only fined 40$ but still had to spend several days in prison and deal with the mental torture of not knowing what her future holds.

in australia she may not have even been removed from the bar for this incident.

how can anyone say this reaction to a stolen beer mat is not excessive.

[loong]

she was only fined 40$ but still had to spend several days in prison and deal with the mental torture of not knowing what her future holds.

in australia she may not have even been removed from the bar for this incident.

how can anyone say this reaction to a stolen beer mat is not excessive.

I don't know Waikhru, but not only do a lot of people feel that the reaction was not excessive, they seem to think that it's not harsh enough.

These people have obviously never done anything irresponsible or stupid in their lives. They dont exceed the speed limit, they always pay their taxes and they've never made a personal call from work. They've never bought a video from a guy in the pub. They don't own any copied CDs or pirated DVds. They all have legitimate copies of windows and software on their computers. They've never bought any fake football shirts, watches or designer gear in Thailand.

Can you imagine what would happen if the police started jumping on farangs and throwing them in jail for buying pirated DVD's? Would they all say that the people deserve it?

[sanook2me]

she was only fined 40$ but still had to spend several days in prison and deal with the mental torture of not knowing what her future holds.

in australia she may not have even been removed from the bar for this incident.

how can anyone say this reaction to a stolen beer mat is not excessive.

I don't know Waikhru, but not only do a lot of people feel that the reaction was not excessive, they seem to think that it's not harsh enough.

These people have obviously never done anything irresponsible or stupid in their lives. They dont exceed the speed limit, they always pay their taxes and they've never made a personal call from work. They've never bought a video from a guy in the pub. They don't own any copied CDs or pirated DVds. They all have legitimate copies of windows and software on their computers. They've never bought any fake football shirts, watches or designer gear in Thailand.

Can you imagine what would happen if the police started jumping on farangs and throwing them in jail for buying pirated DVD's? Would they all say that the people deserve it?

Can we assume there were other farangs in the Aussie bar that night and that this girl was just unlucky as the one singled out to be hassled for money from local Thai cops on that night?

Or is there a hint of drunk and disorderly gone bad in a foreign country?

[loong]

she was only fined 40$ but still had to spend several days in prison and deal with the mental torture of not knowing what her future holds.

in australia she may not have even been removed from the bar for this incident.

how can anyone say this reaction to a stolen beer mat is not excessive.

I don't know Waikhru, but not only do a lot of people feel that the reaction was not excessive, they seem to think that it's not harsh enough.

These people have obviously never done anything irresponsible or stupid in their lives. They dont exceed the speed limit, they always pay their taxes and they've never made a personal call from work. They've never bought a video from a guy in the pub. They don't own any copied CDs or pirated DVds. They all have legitimate copies of windows and software on their computers. They've never bought any fake football shirts, watches or designer gear in Thailand.

Can you imagine what would happen if the police started jumping on farangs and throwing them in jail for buying pirated DVD's? Would they all say that the people deserve it?

Can we assume there were other farangs in the Aussie bar that night and that this girl was just unlucky as the one singled out to be hassled for money from local Thai cops on that night?

Or is there a hint of drunk and disorderly gone bad in a foreign country?

Normally, when someone quotes a post, it's because they want to respond to something in that post. Your post has no relevance to my post that you have quoted, so why did you quote it?

Yes, now you are making a fair assumption, if the Aussie bar is a popular nightspot with tourists then I'm sure that there were other Farangs there. For sure, this woman was unlucky that her friend would think it funny to put the mat into her bag. Incidentally, I don't see the joke myself. If you were to assume that the friend was actually trying to steal the mat, I wouldn't argue with you. The woman was singled out because she had the mat in her bag. There are, as far as I remember only 2 undisputed facts. 1. The mat was in the bag. 2. The friend had put the mat in the bag.

If you are in a shop and a friend of yours slips something into your bag unbeknown to you and you walk out, who is the thief?

The woman was not charged with being drunk and disorderly. If they locked up everyone for being drunk and disorderly in the tourist spots, the bars would lose their best customers. I have no idea if it is the same in Thailand as in many places - ie it is the bar owners responsibility not to allow their customers to get drunk and disorderly. If a customer is drunk, the bar should refuse to serve them. If a bar continues to sell alcohol to a person who is already drunk, then the bar is in part responsible for the behavior of the customer.

I think that most people are aware that when people are drunk, they do stupid things. If a customer is drunk and the bar continues to sell them alcohol, they should not be surprised if the customer does really stupid things.

In this case the friend did a really stupid thing and if the bar served her with alcohol after she was drunk, then the bar should accept responsibilty for her doing this stupid thing.

By the way, I notice that nobody has answered my question. How did a drunk and disorderly 36 year old woman manage to get down the steps and all the way to the beach before the police could catch her?

PS. Have you EVER bought a pirated DVD or fake goods of any description?

Edited May 22, 2009 by loong

[stumonster]

when you sell something at your place of business for 1500 baht - maybe the apologists can compare that to the daily wage - should you let petty thieves just walk off with the merchandise.

those of you trying to tell us that in Australia they would just get let off are outright lying.

this has been an Australian media beatup over a petty thief.

another nail in the coffin of what used to be a great country. it is sad to see Australia declining like this.

[TheLaughingMan]

No Stumonster, the problem isn't the item that was stolen or the value of it or the severity of the theft or whatever. The problem, is that the accused was completely innocent. You do understand that right? The actual perpetrator did not receive any penalty and was ignored when they tried to set things right and take responsibility for thier actions. We are not apologising for the crime, we are outraged that the innocent one got the blame and the guilty one did not. Understand clearly now?

[JetsetBkk]

Even the Phuket Governor felt she was wrongly accused...

well the governers in damage control thats all...

Exactly.

[JetsetBkk]

...By the way, I notice that nobody has answered my question. How did a drunk and disorderly 36 year old woman manage to get down the steps and all the way to the beach before the police could catch her?...

...So the accusations of her abusing and running from the police all stem from the unsubstantiated statement of a co -owner of the bar...

Don't you guys ever click on the links I post?

Watch this. Pay particular attention to what she says at time index 1:01...

No, she didn't make it to the beach but she did start to run across the road.

PS Please don't read the comments. They've not been "moderated" yet.

[mc2]

Women tourists taunted at Phuket bar where Annice Smoel arrested | Herald Sun

..............

as for the 3 women,

their response was "oh if you will accuse us, we are leaving" dumb response IMO

i notice they didn't explain why the acusations were false, or what exactly led up to the accusation since that is the crux of the story. makes me believe they were petty thieves

I think the fact that they didn't steal the mat is explanation why the allegations were false.

In this case the girls had a chat with a man in the bar, that man then stole a mat. That man is a thief for sure, no doubt about that. The girls stole nothing and yet you call them petty thieves.

If you talk to a man in a bar and he steals something - that makes you a thief, right?

If I happen to chat to a lady in Tesco Lotus and it turns out she is a shoplifter, in your mind I would be a thief because I had talked to her?

You know, the Thai police, during the course of their work will have to talk to a lot of thieves, by your reasoning that would mean that the Thai police force are thie.........oh, wait a minute.

the way i read it was the guy was covering their arse ... for their mistake, or to get the girls off the hook .

maybe the boy did do it

theres a thing called accessory to theft btw

Are you for real???

Now you're suggesting that this guy came riding in on his white horse to rescue these girls? Would you confess to a crime that you didn't commit in Thailand to cover a stranger's arse? i wouldn't but a silly young hero boy might to impress some girls, maybe score a gratitude shag or two afterwards

"maybe the boy did do it"

So you've changed your tune nope, just pointing out some possibilities.

from talking to a thief means that you must be a thief. Now talking to a thief means that you must be an accessory.

So using my previous example..

If I happen to chat to a lady in Tesco Lotus and it turns out she is a shoplifter, in your mind I would be an accessory to theft because I talked to her?

If you're talking to a guy in a bar and he pulls a gun and shoots the bartender, that makes you an accessory to murder - correct?

depends what your talking about, for example, "hey check if is anyone else is looking, i want to steal this barmat" . gotit ?

Edited May 22, 2009 by mc2

[mc2]

mc2

Seriously you have a strange way of looking things. How you connect the dots in this fashion and blame people endlessly is beyond me. You seem to particularly like to go after women. I must be unaware of the massive influx of white female criminals into Thailand lately. It's obviously common knowledge and I'm just out of the loop.

well we have one of the woman that confessed to the crime so thats one thief.

then we have the other woman that did a runner. and no, i don't believe it was because of the rain, it was because she was scared and frightened to be charged. She originally thought "they let me go". That was probably her stupid friends telling her that "hey just go now, we will try and take care of it"

You don't run from cops if they are questioning you or making accusations.

The abusive (loud angry arguing) to the thai cops plus the attempted bribe didn't help her either.

Now if the silly floosy took some responsibility for her actions and was a bit more truthful in her report then i might be more forgiving towards her . instead she wants to blame everyone else but her for the predicimant she found herself in

Edited May 22, 2009 by mc2

[mc2]

Who else are they going to blame? I can actually understand her pleading guilty. I'm not sure what happened or what she did, but she didn't deserve the result. In a situation like that, I always act mentally challenged. Usually, they (the police) will just walk away shaking their heads. Which is fine with me. I like when they walk away from me.

The first time I was here, I put a smoke out on the sidewalk. A policeman walked over and started explaining the 2,000 baht fine. I acted like an idiot, and walked away. Keep your guard up.

Thats good advice and exactly what I would have done in any semi-serious accusation, act dumb, act confused, act mentally challenged.

Other times I deal with the cops eg traffic pullover, I just smile and often they chat a bit eg and let me on my way everyones happy.

Edited May 22, 2009 by mc2

[Shotime]

No comment

However,

"Now if the silly floosy took some responsibility for her actions and was a bit more truthful in her report then i might be more forgiving towards her . instead she wants to blame everyone else but her for the predicimant she found herself in"

I think silly floosy is a little on the harsh side. Whatever she did or didn't do, she didn't deserve what happened, and who are you to be judging, or, for that matter, forgiving anybody? Your picture is also starting to annoy me.

Edited May 22, 2009 by Shotime

[hhgz]

"So nobody will explain to me the missing link is this story. Someone else confesses, she is not the actual perpetrator and everyone knows it, but still she is seen as doing something wrong, even as if she did in fact commit some crime. Anyone? I'd greatly appreciate it."

She was in possession of stolen property. She removed the item from her purse, and proceeded to hit the bartender with the mat. She tried to escape.

Unfortunately, being with rowdy friends and under the influence of alcohol, she did some stupid things. How different it would have been if she immediately acknowledged her culpability, apologized, and tried to make financial restitution.

When a farang does something inappropriate, and is approached by the police to pay a fine immediately, a bunch of TVers howl "extortion, corruption"! As we've seen with her, when you don't pay the fine immediately, you end up in jail. It was her choice, and she made a bad one.

She and her friends acted as clods, and many TVers approve of her actions...and you wonder why Thais don't pay you the respect you think you deserve. Hmmm.

[rafval]

sometimes getting loud works, I once saw an Australian women getting very loud in Patpong when the people in an upstairs bar tried charging her and her partner 6000b for 2 drinks, and it did the job

[moe666]

If true she didn't put the mat in her bag so what it was her bag and she tried to leave with someone elses property in her bag guilty as charged.

[sanook2me]

No Stumonster, the problem isn't the item that was stolen or the value of it or the severity of the theft or whatever. The problem, is that the accused was completely innocent. You do understand that right? The actual perpetrator did not receive any penalty and was ignored when they tried to set things right and take responsibility for thier actions. We are not apologising for the crime, we are outraged that the innocent one got the blame and the guilty one did not. Understand clearly now?

You are defending the indefenedisble the same as Loong is doing.

Listen to the radio interview - she is such a liar

"I picked up my bag realised it was a bit heavy looked inside and thought what am i going to do with this? Purr lease"

there is a beer mat in my bag not an alligator! pick it out and put it on a table like any sensible person

She gave her bag to a group of girls (doesn't say friends)and then was ready to walk off without her bag while been interviewed by police.

What person is going to leave their bag with people they dont know and especially while being interviewed by the police?

"i started to walk slowly out the bar down the stairs i was terrified and it was rainings so i started to run"

This is it! This is the big part of the story that she is lying about... we can only assume

she ran because?

she was drunk

she thought f"ck it whats the police going to do here in magicland

i can get away with this

oh so many variations but she is lying about what really happened and is twisting the truth to sound like a naive tourist. B0ll0x!

her end statement 85% percent of Thai cops are undercover?

[loong]

...By the way, I notice that nobody has answered my question. How did a drunk and disorderly 36 year old woman manage to get down the steps and all the way to the beach before the police could catch her?...

...So the accusations of her abusing and running from the police all stem from the unsubstantiated statement of a co -owner of the bar...

Don't you guys ever click on the links I post?

Watch this. Pay particular attention to what she says at time index 1:01...

No, she didn't make it to the beach but she did start to run across the road.

PS Please don't read the comments. They've not been "moderated" yet.

Yes I had listened to the radio interview.

In her own words, this woman Walked down the steps and then ran across the road, so hardly "Doing a runner"

In bar owner Steve's statement, She did a runner and was caught at the beach.

So who do you and the other posters think is most likely telling the truth? The bar owner who states that she did a runner and managed to get all the way to the beach before the police could catch up with her? or the woman?

If posters think that the woman is most likely to be telling the truth in this case, that would mean that they think the bar owners statement relating to her doing a runner is a lie.

So maybe the woman's version is the truth?

If so, why would people still insist on accepting everything else in Steve's statement as fact, yet dismiss the woman's version as lies.

[mc2]

In her own words, this woman Walked down the steps and then ran across the road, so hardly "Doing a runner"

In bar owner Steve's statement, She did a runner and was caught at the beach.

So who do you and the other posters think is most likely telling the truth?

i think steve is telling the truth

we have a crime scene, lady is the prime suspect, she is frightened, she leaves the crime scene, starts running across the road ...... yep thats a runner.

btw a drunk woman, probably in heals is not going to run down the steps, its impossible.

[loong]

Now you're suggesting that this guy came riding in on his white horse to rescue these girls? Would you confess to a crime that you didn't commit in Thailand to cover a stranger's arse? i wouldn't but a silly young hero boy might to impress some girls, maybe score a gratitude shag or two afterwards

"maybe the boy did do it"

So you've changed your tune nope, just pointing out some possibilities.

Yeh sure, risk going to prison to possibly get a gratitude shag. It must be really difficult to get a shag in Phuket - right? So difficult and the man is so horny and desperate that he will commit to a crime he didn't commit. Added bonus that he is handcuffed, so he is kinky as well.

If they had found the beer mat in the possession of these girls, then why let them go? Why handcuff the man?

Maybe because they didn't steal the mat and the man did.

Yes you are just pointing out possibilities. And what possibilities have you pointed out so far?

1. The girls are guilty of theft because they talked to the self-confessed thief in the bar. Oh by the way, there is a good chance that while these girls were on holiday they may have talked Thai people - does that mean that they miraculously turn into Thais?

2. The girls are guilty of accessory to theft because they talked to the self-confessed thief in the bar. It's quite plausible that the man also spoke to the bar staff during the evening, so that would make the bar staff accessories to the theft. They should all be sacked!

3.

No, you've only considered 2 possibilities. Could there be a 3rd possibility? Hmmm difficult one..let's think about this. 3 girls accused of theft, The stolen object not found on their persons, another person confesses to the theft. Weeell, highly unlikely, after all they are Australian girls on holiday, but I suppose that there just might be another possibility. No it's just too ridiculous to consider. Ok, I'll admit it, there is just the very slightest chance that a 3rd possibility does exist.

3. They are innocent.

depends what your talking about, for example, "hey check if is anyone else is looking, i want to steal this barmat" . gotit ?

This can only have come from your imagination as this never appeared in the story

Edited May 23, 2009 by loong

[johna]

In her own words, this woman Walked down the steps and then ran across the road, so hardly "Doing a runner"

In bar owner Steve's statement, She did a runner and was caught at the beach.

So who do you and the other posters think is most likely telling the truth?

i think steve is telling the truth

we have a crime scene, lady is the prime suspect, she is frightened, she leaves the crime scene, starts running across the road ...... yep thats a runner.

btw a drunk woman, probably in heals is not going to run down the steps, its impossible.

Steve the bar owner was not there when all this happened, his account is hearsay and should be treated with skepticism.

Steve is not stupid enough to say anything that would contradict the police.

She was probably wearing high heels??

Police in general have no interest in looking further than the end of their noses in solving crime.

[CFIT]

Since there are at least two other stories involving this bar and fleecing its customers, or attempting to...and more stories about Thai police acting in corrupted ways than there are grains of sand on Patong beach- the point whether she is a thief running from the law becomes a little more ridiculous,

especially since her friends AND the Governor of Phuket have vouched for her innocence.

Seems a lot of the posters here have a real desire to see western women punished, not hard to imagine why..

Thailand is a last refuge for western misogynists.

That Aussie bar needs to have its license revoked for serving alcohol to drunks and possibly being involved in shake downs of tourists.

[sanook2me]

...By the way, I notice that nobody has answered my question. How did a drunk and disorderly 36 year old woman manage to get down the steps and all the way to the beach before the police could catch her?...

...So the accusations of her abusing and running from the police all stem from the unsubstantiated statement of a co -owner of the bar...

Don't you guys ever click on the links I post?

Watch this. Pay particular attention to what she says at time index 1:01...

No, she didn't make it to the beach but she did start to run across the road.

PS Please don't read the comments. They've not been "moderated" yet.

Yes I had listened to the radio interview.

In her own words, this woman Walked down the steps and then ran across the road, so hardly "Doing a runner"

In bar owner Steve's statement, She did a runner and was caught at the beach.

So who do you and the other posters think is most likely telling the truth? The bar owner who states that she did a runner and managed to get all the way to the beach before the police could catch up with her? or the woman?

If posters think that the woman is most likely to be telling the truth in this case, that would mean that they think the bar owners statement relating to her doing a runner is a lie.

So maybe the woman's version is the truth?

If so, why would people still insist on accepting everything else in Steve's statement as fact, yet dismiss the woman's version as lies.

She said her self "i RAN across the road"

now there may be different interpretations of doing a runner but all parties concerned have stated she ran!

I can't believe you are still defending her when its so blatant that she caused a scene with the help of a group of girls/people and then ran from the police! No assumptions these are facts as she gave them in her interview.!

[loong]

well we have one of the woman that confessed to the crime so thats one thief.

Who are you referring to? The friend who put the mat in the bag? If so then I agree with you that most likely she was attempting to steal the mat.

Unfortunately, she was not the one who was arrested and thrown in jail. Just because her friend pulls a mean stunt like this doesn't mean that the woman is a thief.

Maybe you will agree that the wrong person was arrested and put in jail. No of course not. One of a group attempts a theft and so long as one of that group is thrown in jail, it's ok.

The abusive (loud angry arguing) to the thai cops plus the attempted bribe didn't help her either.

Once again, she was not accused of abusive behavior. Is that too difficult for you to grasp?

As for the attempted bribe, yes the Thai police are well known for not accepting bribes. And who knows how the offer of money was made? Maybe she just asked if she could pay for the mat and a fine to get it over with. Many people have flamed this woman for not doing the research and finding out a little about Thailand before her holiday. Well with the minimum of research it is easy to get the impression that paying the police makes problems dissappear.

By the way, she was not charged with attempted bribery, she was charged with theft.

Thats good advice and exactly what I would have done in any semi-serious accusation, act dumb, act confused, act mentally challenged.

Please don't post statements like this, the temptation is almost too much!

[mc2]

Steve the bar owner was not there when all this happened, his account is hearsay and should be treated with skepticism.

Steve is not stupid enough to say anything that would contradict the police.

She was probably wearing high heels??

Police in general have no interest in looking further than the end of their noses in solving crime.

this has nothing to do with steves account. everything is what happened + her own words.

1. there was a crime scene

2. she was the prime suspect

3. she left the crime scene ... left her handbag behind (her own words) and was frightened (in her words) ... started running (in her words) ...

4. then got surrounded by security

you dont need to be sherlock homes or steve to know she was doing a runner.

btw even if she wasnt wearing high heels, a drunk woman cant run down the stairs but i bet she went down them as quickly as she could.

[sanook2me]

Steve the bar owner was not there when all this happened, his account is hearsay and should be treated with skepticism.

Steve is not stupid enough to say anything that would contradict the police.

She was probably wearing high heels??

Police in general have no interest in looking further than the end of their noses in solving crime.

this has nothing to do with steves account. everything is what happened + her own words.

1. there was a crime scene

2. she was the prime suspect

3. she left the crime scene ... left her handbag behind (her own words) and was frightened (in her words) ... started running (in her words) ...

4. then got surrounded by security

you dont need to be sherlock homes or steve to know she was doing a runner.

btw even if she wasnt wearing high heels, a drunk woman cant run down the stairs but i bet she went down them as quickly as she could.

btw even if she wasnt wearing high heels, a drunk woman cant run down the stairs but i bet she went down them as quickly as she could.

in her words " i walked down the steps slowly and carefully and then ran"

At least she can listen to her interview so she can remember the garbage she has spouted

she's got lovely breasticles i may believe her story after all...

[mc2]

By the way, she was not charged with attempted bribery, she was charged with theft.

Thats good advice and exactly what I would have done in any semi-serious accusation, act dumb, act confused, act mentally challenged.

Please don't post statements like this, the temptation is almost too much!

i bet she wouldnt have been charged with anything if she played it cool, played it dumb, acted confused and was a bit more humble

now that would have been the most useful advice at the time.

consoling her, and sympathizing with her self righteous indignation and inability to take responsibility for her actions isn't doing her any favours

[loong]

Hhgz..She was in possession of stolen property. She removed the item from her purse, and proceeded to hit the bartender with the mat. She tried to escape.

Unfortunately, being with rowdy friends and under the influence of alcohol, she did some stupid things. How different it would have been if she immediately acknowledged her culpability, apologized, and tried to make financial restitution..................She and her friends acted as clods, and many TVers approve of her actions...and you wonder why Thais don't pay you the respect you think you deserve. Hmmm

It's not clear to me if this has been posted as a joke or what. If it is not meant as a joke then this is an extreme case of imagination running riot.

I neither approve or disapprove of her actions and that's simply because there has been no proof of any wrongdoing on her part.

Sanook2me..You are defending the indefenedisble the same as Loong is doing..............................

......"I picked up my bag realised it was a bit heavy looked inside and thought what am i going to do with this? Purr lease"

there is a beer mat in my bag not an alligator! pick it out and put it on a table like any sensible person...........

She gave her bag to a group of girls (doesn't say friends)..................

walk off without her bag while been interviewed by police..............

"i started to walk slowly out the bar down the stairs i was terrified and it was rainings so i started to run"

This is it! This is the big part of the story that she is lying about... we can only assume

she ran because?........

is twisting the truth to sound like a naive tourist

Her case would only be indefensible when faced with a kangaroo court made up of people of lynch mob mentality who can make judgments based on no facts whatsoever. In a fair court of law a first year law student would get the case thrown out.

maybe she realised that her friends had put something in her bag and handed it to them to sort out.

I think that you can safely assume that the group she was referring to were her friends, not strangers.

She and her friends have stated that the police told her that she could go. If the police hadn't told her to go and she had in fact done a runner, how did she manage to get so far before they were able to catch her?

She started to run because she was confused and frightened by the incident and it was raining. But how she managed to get down the stairs with the police in hot pursuit is beyond me.

She doesn't have to do anything to sound like a naive tourist. That's exactly what she was.

[loong]

In her own words, this woman Walked down the steps and then ran across the road, so hardly "Doing a runner"

In bar owner Steve's statement, She did a runner and was caught at the beach.

So who do you and the other posters think is most likely telling the truth?

i think steve is telling the truth

we have a crime scene, lady is the prime suspect, she is frightened, she leaves the crime scene, starts running across the road ...... yep thats a runner.

btw a drunk woman, probably in heals is not going to run down the steps, its impossible.

So you think that Steve is telling the truth. So please give us your opinion as to how this drunk and disorderly woman (maybe or maybe not wearing heels) managed to get down the steps and all the way to the beach before the police were able to catch her.

The bit where she is frightened and runs across the road (it was raining) comes from her statement - not steve's

[sanook2me]

By the way, she was not charged with attempted bribery, she was charged with theft.

Thats good advice and exactly what I would have done in any semi-serious accusation, act dumb, act confused, act mentally challenged.

Please don't post statements like this, the temptation is almost too much!

i bet she wouldnt have been charged with anything if she played it cool, played it dumb, acted confused and was a bit more humble

now that would have been the most useful advice at the time.

consoling her, and sympathizing with her self righteous indignation and inability to take responsibility for her actions isn't doing her any favours

dam_n it - this is what i wanted to say but couldn't think of it.....