Australian Stabbed In Heart In Thai Bag-Snatch Tragedy

[Jingthing]

I was always taught to never resist an armed thief. I understand why people do and I think there are times when I might resist myself (not suggesting it is ever smart to resist). However, I suppose that question is something people should think about hard in the context of this tragedy.

[ginjag]

Softgeorge, Notso sure on the word majority, There is an awful lot of hidden truth there.

[WhizBang]

its time to stop the corny remarks about the police force .... its no longer a joke .....i cannot understand why a country such as australia does not slap a travel ban on this place immediately ...the phuket police are nothing but tea money collectors , they see tourists purely as a source of income .... until corruption is dealt with we will live in a lawless society ... so time to bail , tell your friends , colleagues , business associates stay away ....go to Myanamar ....

It's not just Phuket, but ALL of Thailand. Thailand needs to be black listed ASAP. Then, and ONLY then will the Thai government and TAT get the message.

The new government slogan should be UNSAFE THAILAND, what with the countless scams, the corrupt BiB, the gem scams, the jet ski scams, and the multitude of tourist deaths via poisonings or stabbings, Thailand is UNSAFE.

The time is long past for face saving. Thaialnd, do something about your inherent problems.

[PaullyW]

Right on cue: TAT: Bangkok named the 3rd-top destination in the world

[softgeorge]

I was always taught to never resist an armed thief. I understand why people do and I think there are times when I might resist myself (not suggesting it is ever smart to resist). However, I suppose that question is something people should think about hard in the context of this tragedy.

I think most people would not resist if they saw it comming and the weapon. I agree with what you say however if someone unexpectedly grabs your bag the natural instinct would be intially to resist. Try an experiment on your partner and see what she/he does if you tug on thier handbag/shoulder bag I bet they will intially tug back. These women didn't even realise that they had been stabbed so may not of even seen a knife.

[softgeorge]

Softgeorge, Notso sure on the word majority, There is an awful lot of hidden truth there.

yea probably right, I'll change that to a number of us.

[Wombat6]

I just returned from a week in Krabi - accompanied by two pretty akha ladies. While in Krabi, we seriously contemplated going to Phuket and also considered Phi Phi - which are both relatively nearby. We didn't, and maybe that's a good thing. Poisonings in Phi Phi and stabbings in Phuket ......probably best we stuck to ho-hum Krabi. Had a v. nice time, btw.

am saddened about the wanton stabbing. Don't know if there's much local police could have done to prevent such a bizarre violent act.

Perhaps a few "Sting" operations by the Police could weed out bag snatchers and put fear into potential snatchers

[brianP]

They need a reward posted and need to make an example out of the murderers when caught! And i hope they nab them soon.

[MEL1]

What a terrible, senseless murder, all for a handbag and probably a few thousand baht.

Condolences to her family and friends.

What a terrible, senseless murder, all for a handbag and probably a few thousand baht.

A typical ignorant farang remark.

No disrespect intended to the poster, but that remark shows the lack of understanding that some people show for the reality of life for many poor people in the "Land Of Smiles".

There are some people for who a "few thousand Baht" is a fortune, it can litterly mean life instead of death.

I have no idea why they actually wanted that money....but I do know that in all the tourist bull---t that Phuket loves to display for foriegners with money to spend freely, there is a seedy and desperate reality beneath the phoney tourist glitter.

Drugs and the use of drugs to escape the hopeless of life for those people is one prime cause that prompts those people to commit crimes like this one.

That's the reality of "tourisim" in Thailand....and Phuket and Pattaya are prime examples of that reality. No matter what the 'tourism business" spokesmen claim.

Although I'm truely sorry for the victims of this crime, maybe the lessons the friends of the victim should takr back to Oz is that this crime shows the true nature of Thailand and it's tourisim business.

I've been simply reading through, with a need to comment, as this is purely evil and awful as an event.

But your words above? Jeez man, you can't be serious?

You wrote, "No disrespect intended to the poster, but that remark shows the lack of understanding that some people show for the reality of life for many poor people in the "Land Of Smiles".

There are some people for who a "few thousand Baht" is a fortune, it can litterly mean life instead of death."

Sorry, well not, but your remark shows your lack of understanding that you show for the reality of the life of this victim, who arrived only the day before, coming for a simply relaxed holiday, in a place she thought she could trust, and she was murdered!

So a few thousand baht is a fortune to them, so what? Does that give them the right to take the opportunity to steal, and kill, for a quick get rich scheme?

It can mean life and death to a Thai? What, a few thousand baht? Are you writing from Timbuktu?

It meant for the poor visitor's life, THAT'S A FACT; So don't dare say a few thousand baht can literally mean life or death to a Thai - that is BS!

As for using a knife against a defenceless old lady.... was that the Thai's life or death policy for living too? All for their lives themselves?

Baahumbug - think again about your words please. Dispicable.

-mel.

[sydneyjed]

Terrible tragedy indeed ... nobody should die in that way ..if the police were less busy trying to get money from corruption they would perhaps be more visible to those criminals, I never seen any police patrol in those very touristic areas.. I might be wrong of course .Well Thailand is not safe anymore that for sure.

I still think Thailand is one of the safest countries in the world, every country has bad bastards like the two involved in this tragedy, but I feel much safer in Bangkok or even Pattaya than I do in Glasgow, or would feel in any city in the UK.

Was in a bar in Karon town a couple of years back,up the top end of the tunnel bar complex..got talking to the bar owner who was a scouser from the UK and one conversation led on to another and he told me that 5 months earlier he was riding his motorbike home at 3am when another bike leveled up beside him and the pillion rider shot him in the leg...He fell off his bike and rolled down the embankment and played dead till it got light and he was found...the damage to his leg was horrific and now he has a permanent limp..This latest incident is now all over the world news and travel links...TAT PR manager..Pongsak Kanittanon has already played down the murder saying"It is an isolated incident...Something like this should not happen and stressed the episode did not point to a larger problem"..He also predicted tourism to Thailand would take a hit because of this,but was optomistic local authorities.."would take steps to bring back confidence"(source:Travel Today:21st June 2012)

[Jingthing]

I was always taught to never resist an armed thief. I understand why people do and I think there are times when I might resist myself (not suggesting it is ever smart to resist). However, I suppose that question is something people should think about hard in the context of this tragedy.

I think most people would not resist if they saw it comming and the weapon. I agree with what you say however if someone unexpectedly grabs your bag the natural instinct would be intially to resist. Try an experiment on your partner and see what she/he does if you tug on thier handbag/shoulder bag I bet they will intially tug back. These women didn't even realise that they had been stabbed so may not of even seen a knife.

Yes, that is my feeling. My head says don't resist, but I have a very "fighty" automatic response to threats like this. So in the heat of the moment, who knows what any of us would do. I want to make it clear I was in no way whatsoever suggesting the Australian murder victims carries any blame for what happened. Edited June 21, 2012 by Jingthing

[softgeorge]

I was always taught to never resist an armed thief. I understand why people do and I think there are times when I might resist myself (not suggesting it is ever smart to resist). However, I suppose that question is something people should think about hard in the context of this tragedy.

I think most people would not resist if they saw it comming and the weapon. I agree with what you say however if someone unexpectedly grabs your bag the natural instinct would be intially to resist. Try an experiment on your partner and see what she/he does if you tug on thier handbag/shoulder bag I bet they will intially tug back. These women didn't even realise that they had been stabbed so may not of even seen a knife.

Yes, that is my feeling. My head says don't resist, but I have a very "fighty" automatic response to threats like this. So in the heat of the moment, who knows what any of us would do. I want to make it clear I was in no way whatsoever suggesting the Australian murder victims carries any blame for what happened.

I knew where you were coming from and know you were not suggesting anything in relation to the victim.

[12ew3]

I lived in Thailand for 3 years and have seen many things, as we all have. Back in the UK everyone has this wonderful image and not a clue about how bad it really is. This stuff needs to be televised and with all the other attacks, rapes,drug problems and corruption. The programme "Big Trouble in Thailand" scratched the surface, why doesn't some brave TV company really show this country for what it is.. This is just another RIP post, guess we'll all be writing the same in a few weeks time for yet another victim.. Regards to the victims friends and family, but it's never gonna change.. Give it a few days and they will arrest a few people, just to save face and keep the money wheels rolling..

[Notstupid30]

TAT Want be like this now already hit Sky News Aus

Australian woman killed in Phuket

http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=763235&vId=3335316

[Siriam]

RIP

[12ew3]

When I was living down in Nai Harn I was cautioned that after about 10pm at night muggings the like become more normal. As an avid motorbike rider I was told stories of muggers throwing logs on the road in front of the bike or pulling up ropes across the road. I don't know if it ever happened but it made me just get in the car and drive.

This definitely happens, the rope trick was done on me in the outskirts of Nakonsawan, I had no money on me, so they just stole the bike, I believe they followed me from where I was staying with my wife and set it up and waited for me to return.. Someone has a GSXR 1000 with broken fairing now, hope they kill themselves on it!!!!!!

[samsiam]

I was always taught to never resist an armed thief. I understand why people do and I think there are times when I might resist myself (not suggesting it is ever smart to resist). However, I suppose that question is something people should think about hard in the context of this tragedy.

I think most people would not resist if they saw it comming and the weapon. I agree with what you say however if someone unexpectedly grabs your bag the natural instinct would be intially to resist. Try an experiment on your partner and see what she/he does if you tug on thier handbag/shoulder bag I bet they will intially tug back. These women didn't even realise that they had been stabbed so may not of even seen a knife.

Yes, that is my feeling. My head says don't resist, but I have a very "fighty" automatic response to threats like this. So in the heat of the moment, who knows what any of us would do. I want to make it clear I was in no way whatsoever suggesting the Australian murder victims carries any blame for what happened.

Slapping or scratching ??

[kiwikeith]

the land of dead smiles, tourists going off at a record rate, sad , but hey! tne NZ medai failed to pick up on canadian girls death, so they r not intereseted, maybe the bed bug sprayers again, or just a case of poisen mushrooms, whatever its looking grim for thailand such a lovely place going down the mafia rd to hell , with the help of all concerned mainly,???? hey bcarefull out there friends!

[edwinclapham]

the land of dead smiles, tourists going off at a record rate, sad , but hey! tne NZ medai failed to pick up on canadian girls death, so they r not intereseted, maybe the bed bug sprayers again, or just a case of poisen mushrooms, whatever its looking grim for thailand such a lovely place going down the mafia rd to hell , with the help of all concerned mainly,???? hey bcarefull out there friends!

http://nz.news.yahoo...at-thai-resort/

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/7118010/Canadian-sisters-found-dead-in-Thailand

http://www.nzherald....ines.cfm?c_id=2 covered the Perth woman being murdered.

So a wee bit of media cover from your neck of the woods

Edited June 21, 2012 by edwinclapham

[KeyserSoze01]

Terrible tragedy indeed ... nobody should die in that way ..if the police were less busy trying to get money from corruption they would perhaps be more visible to those criminals, I never seen any police patrol in those very touristic areas.. I might be wrong of course .Well Thailand is not safe anymore that for sure.

This is a tradagdy, is the post above saying the police in Australia are corrupt as well, because unfortuantly tourists get mugged and murded in Australia too, its not just a Thai thing.read some Indian / Irish Australian news papers, Tourists die here as well.

Chalk one up for the Thai apologists.

Please provide a link to just one similar case anywhere else in the world, where a tourist was murdered during a bag snatch. I will be waiting patiently.

[Drunken Sailor]

RIP to the dear lady who needlessly lost her life. To the perpetrators, may you rot.

Upon my first official trip to Thailand years back in 1985, I was warned about the notorious backpack cutters on public transportation. Outright violence against foreigners was negligible, though not unheard of.

In 2001, I overheard (FSI 2.5 if you must know) a local at a bar tell the others how they should hit me over the head and take my money, even though I was clearly exercising at the time and had no valuables on my person. To their good merit, the other Thais seated with this "gentleman" gave him a severe berating. Just goes to show that one bad apple on his own, or mixed with another bad apple, can and will spoil the whole lot. Thais in general are wonderful people.

I have been all over Thailand without incident, though I'm not flashy and stay away from trouble. Police I know have offered me firearms when knowing I'm traveling throug a certain area of the country, though this is of course declined.

Even though I love Thais and Thailand, I always keep my guard up. Always, and not only in Thailand.

[damo]

My sympathies to her family, very sad to see someone die in such a pointless way.

No doubt yaba was a factor, it should never have happened. It's easy to point the finger at the individual but really Thai society, the useless mothers, the greedy, the lazy, the drugs etc, etc all create the environment where senseless killings occur.

So many selfish people in Thai culture.

[Poke]

I've heard from many friends, experienced expats living in Bangkok, who have been attacked within the past year. Crooks are looking for iPhones and laptops. They come up on motorbikes, center of Sukumvit at night. Several have been hurt, dragged on the ground. Cops don't' want to know.

Perhaps now, with the entire Australian travel agent association now aware of how dangerous Thailand has become, the government here will do something before the Americans and Europeans get wind. Otherwise super discounts at beach hotels!

[swillowbee]

I just returned from a week in Krabi - accompanied by two pretty akha ladies. While in Krabi, we seriously contemplated going to Phuket and also considered Phi Phi - which are both relatively nearby. We didn't, and maybe that's a good thing. Poisonings in Phi Phi and stabbings in Phuket ......probably best we stuck to ho-hum Krabi. Had a v. nice time, btw.

am saddened about the wanton stabbing. Don't know if there's much local police could have done to prevent such a bizarre violent act.

Perhaps a few "Sting" operations by the Police could weed out bag snatchers and put fear into potential snatchers

.

... Wombat6 ... "sting operation"? ... uh, again ... by whom? ... oh ... really.

Edited June 21, 2012 by swillowbee

[edwinclapham]

I've heard from many friends, experienced expats living in Bangkok, who have been attacked within the past year. Crooks are looking for iPhones and laptops. They come up on motorbikes, center of Sukumvit at night. Several have been hurt, dragged on the ground. Cops don't' want to know.

Perhaps now, with the entire Australian travel agent association now aware of how dangerous Thailand has become, the government here will do something before the Americans and Europeans get wind. Otherwise super discounts at beach hotels!

Well the RAC Travel Agency in Joondalup Perth is not your small travel agent. This is not going away!

[Lite Beer]

Bangkok squad called in to catch Phuket ‘bag snatch killer’

Phuket Gazette –

A stern-faced Col Sirisak Warasiri told the press that more than 50 officers were working on tracking down the killer. Photo: Orawin Narabal

The Katathani resort has more than 100 CCTV cameras on its premises plus eight more monitoring the road outside, but the attack last night was ‘beyond our expectations’, said the resort's managing director, Sombat Atiset. Photo: Atchaa Khamlo

PHUKET: More than 50 police officers, including a team from the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok, have been dedicated to catching the two men who attacked Australian tourist Michelle Smith, 60, who was stabbed to death in Kata last night.

Ms Smith died after being stabbed in the chest, puncturing her heart and a lung, when a bag snatch attempt went tragically wrong.

Her friend, Tammee Lee Lynn, suffered a slash to her right arm in the same attack.

“We have already provided all the details we have to all police stations in Phuket, and officers from Phuket City Police and Phuket Provincial Police are assisting in the investigation,” Chalong Police Superintendent Col Sirisak Warasiri told the Phuket Gazette this afternoon.

“A team of Crime Suppression Police officers from Bangkok have been dispatched to Phuket. They are in Phuket already,” he added.

At a press conference at Katathani Phuket Beach Resort, where Ms Smith was staying with other travel agents on a familiarization trip to Phuket, Col Sirisak was brief in the details he gave to the press.

“Hotel CCTV footage shows the two men riding a blue Honda Dream motorbike. The driver wore a white shirt and dark pants and the passenger wore a denim shirt and jeans.

“We did not get the license plates, but we have expert police artists creating sketches of the culprits from the images recorded on CCTV cameras,” he explained.

“We have more details about the suspects but we are unwilling to share that information at this stage as it may jeopardize the investigation,” Col Sirisak added.

Police were on patrol in the Kata area as usual last night. “But we didn’t patrol the area where the attack occurred as we never thought it would be a dangerous area,” he said.

Col Sirisak admitted that police were under considerable pressure to catch the killer. “We will try to arrest these two men as soon as possible since the incident directly affects Phuket’s tourism,” he said.

Katathani resort Managing Director Sombat Atiset expressed his condolences to the family and friends of Ms Smith.

“I offer my deepest sympathies to Ms Smith’s family and friends. We try our best to take care of our guests and their belongings, but what happened last night was beyond our expectations,” he said.

The resort has 110 CCTV cameras in different locations throughout the premises and eight more cameras monitoring the road for 800 meters, from Kata Hill to in front of the resort. “We also have 23 security guards on our staff to patrol the hotel 24 hours a day,” Mr Sombat explained.

In light of the attack, the resort will now boost its security measures. “We have asked Chalong Police to set up more checkpoints around hotel areas and have volunteers patrol the area at night. We will also increase the number of hotel security guards and CCTV cameras in the hotel,” he added.

Geoff Smith, Michelle’s husband of 35 years, was “absolutely devastated” by the incident.

“She loved life, she loved travelling,” he told Australia’s Channel 9 news.

“She was a very experienced travel agent. She’d worked in travel for 40 years. It was her passion, it was her life and she's been to many exotic places around the world.

“There were no boundaries to her horizons. For the places she’s been on her own and with escorted tours, I can’t believe it,” he said.

Mr Smith said that the couple’s three children were still coming to grips with the news.

“They are all devastated,”' he said. “She was a wonderful mum and we have wonderful children.”

Meanwhile, attack survivor Ms Lynn and the delegation of other travel agents she and Ms Smith were travelling with flew back to Australia today. The 10 delegates were on a familiarization trip, so that they could accurately assess how to recommend Phuket as a travel destination to potential tourists looking to book a holiday.

Arrangements are being made for the body of Ms Smith to be repatriated to Australia.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2012/article16231.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2012-06-21

[silsburyhill]

I'm very surprised at the lack of reporting of this incident so far by the Phuket Gazette, and both of the on line editions of the main English language Thai newspapers. This is particularly odd given the extensive coverage that it's already received in the Australian media.

I'm not. Remembering the embarrassment that was their two week silence following the tsunami.

i was told by a Thai neighbour 15 years ago that these types of crimes were very prevalent but were always hushed up so as not to deter tourists.

Fact is, if the police would just once come out and admit to a crime having been perpetrated by a local on a tourist/expat instead of these ridiculous cover ups, people would have more confidence visiting/living here. It would show 'accountability'. Anathema to the Thai mindset.

[bridge2bridge]

Very very sad to read this story.

Phuket is not safe anymore, and the thai authorities seem relunctant to do anything about the escalating crime.

Give me Bangkok anytime.

Condolences to the family.

R.I.P Michelle.

[softgeorge]

"Col Sirisak admitted that police were under considerable pressure to catch the killer. “We will try to arrest these two men as soon as possible since the incident directly affects Phuket’s tourism,” he said."

There is that word "Tourism" which equals money. Would they be calling in extra police and working around the clock if this incident had not got the media coverage it has or would it of just been another farang death? With the shock waves this has sent through the travel industry in Australia I think TAT have been on a few backs. They see that this offender has flushed millions of baht down the toilet.

[joboss]

I just said to my Thai girlfriend, this type of senseless violence scares me, her reply ok you don't like Thailand go, not a word from her about the women attacked its like it does not register.

My wife is Thai and she's super pissed off, sad and embarrassed this happened, sorry dude your girlfriend is an idiot, no fault of hers of course. I guess now it's "Up to u."

Yep... Take back the Credit Card and move quietly on,,,