Australian Stabbed In Heart In Thai Bag-Snatch Tragedy

[Skywalker69]

Just a few days ago the young sisters on Phi Phi, and now this. My heart goes out to family and friends.

I have some questions to the PM the 18/6 I read that you were confident that tourism income will increase to THB 2 trillion.Do you ever read the news? Do you even know whats goes on in your own Country?

What are you going to do about it. Why don´t you and PTP stop concentrating on whitewash your "brother" and start Govern the Country.

RIP.

[uranuss]

phuket gazette just woke up

[edwinclapham]

"The men are to face charges of attempted robbery with the use of motorbike and using a knife as a deadly weapon, resulting in injury and death."

This should read surely, the men are to face charges of MURDER and grievous bodily harm!

[sirchai]

RIP. My deepest condolences to her family and friends.

We shouldn't forget that crimes like that happen in many countries EVERY day.

Fly to Miami, rent a car, get lost near the airport and ask somebody for your hotel....

We should also consider that human junk like these guys seem to be everywhere where tourists are.....

I'm just wondering how bad it will be in 2015 and later, when ASEAN starts.......

.

Edited June 21, 2012 by sirchai

[Asiantravel]

My advice is to avoid Pattaya and Phuket completely. There are so many nice places in Thailand. You rarely hear about this kind of thing happening to tourists elsewhere. Any sensible travel agent would send there customers to places far more reflective of Thailand traditions and culture. Not to mention the beaches are far nicer on many of the islands than in Phuket or Pattaya areas.

Hua Hin also.There have been several violent deaths

of expats there over the past year or two....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/9143138/British-man-murdered-in-Thailand-for-40.html

Edited June 21, 2012 by Asiantravel

[Thai at Heart]

phuket gazette just woke up

And even more bizarrely, in their efforts to catch the culprits, the police announce to the whole world.

Chalong Police have told the Phuket Gazette that they have identified the two suspects and are moving in to make arrests.

The men are to face charges of attempted robbery with the use of motorbike and using a knife as a deadly weapon, resulting in injury and death.

Ready or not, here we come......... And I would presume, they would be charged with murder

I really hope they catch these useless idiots and the system gives them everything they deserve.

[swillowbee]

... thankfullly, the advent of the Internet and social media is having it's impact, knocking down the false image of Thailand as a safe country, which has been carefully crafted by international advertising agencies for the TAT ... for those who live and work here and understand the Thai culture, Thailand is far closer to being a corrupt, tribal Sub-Saharan African nation than a developing Asian nation.

... overwhelmingly, foreign tourists fail to understand what Thailand really is, and the cost of that failure is too often very, very high ... pumped full of sunshine and the image of Thai smiles, foreigners are woefully unprepared for how African bad things in Thailand go when they go wrong.

... perhaps the foreign diplomatic missions in Thailand should collectively create and fund an independent organization to help defend their citizens in Thailand ... a service which is available to anyone with a foreign passport:

• Compile and publish authoritative and reliable checklist on the risks to visitors in Thailand (as opposed to the carefully crafted TAT propaganda, and the well-known censored Thai media and Internet);
  
• Provide pre-qualified independent forensic professionals to verify Thai post-mortems, and perform their own post-mortems;
  
• Provide police-trained foreign detectives who speak Thai to investigate foreigner deaths;
  
• Create and supply a proper pathology lab in Thailand, or contract with third party offshore pathology labs to conduct their own reports.
  

... someone needs to step-up and start defending foreigners in Thailand ... the Royal Thai [fill in the blank - any Thai department will do] sure isn't going to defend foreigners.

... as more and more Thai crooks discover that we are without protection, we become easy prey and it becomes open season by Thai crooks and corrupt Thai officials on foreigners in Thailand.

Edited June 21, 2012 by swillowbee

[fishhooks]

i got stopped recently at the chalong circle... actually before the circle outside the school , they were stopping every farang on bike or car , they even had a cop at a desk collecting the cash etc it was like seven eleven.... 500 baht for no seat belt, or helmet and 1000 if no license ...the queue was long and most of the day ..big money ... joooooookkkeeeeee

Okay, so that's a fact. I don't think you are going to get any sympathy today on a thread such as this!

Not RELATED

Edited June 21, 2012 by fishhooks

[Skywalker69]

... thankfullly, the advent of the Internet and social media is having it's impact, knocking down the false image of Thailand as a safe country, which has been carefully crafted by international advertising agencies for the TAT ... for those who live and work here and understand the Thai culture, Thailand is far closer to being a corrupt, tribal Sub-Saharan African nation than a developing Asian nation.

... overwhelmingly, foreign tourists fail to understand what Thailand really is, and the cost of that failure is too often very, very high ... pumped full of sunshine and the image of Thai smiles, foreigners are woefully unprepared for how African bad things in Thailand go when they go wrong.

... perhaps the foreign diplomatic missions in Thailand should collectively create and fund an independent organization to help defend their citizens in Thailand ... a service which is available to anyone with a foreign passport:

• Compile and publish authoritative and reliable checklist on the risks to visitors in Thailand (as opposed to the carefully crafted TAT propaganda, and the well-known censored Thai media and Internet);
  
• Provide pre-qualified independent forensic professionals to verify Thai post-mortems, and perform their own post-mortems;
  
• Provide police-trained foreign detectives who speak Thai to investigate foreigner deaths;
  
• Create and supply a proper pathology lab in Thailand, or contract with third party offshore pathology labs to conduct their own reports.
  

... someone needs to step-up and start defending foreigners in Thailand ... the Royal Thai [fill in the blank - any Thai department will do] sure isn't going to defend foreigners.

... as more and more Thai crooks discover that we are without protection, we become easy prey and our defenselessness becomes an open season by Thai crooks and corrupt Thai officials on foreigners in Thailand.

[pagallim]

Just a few days ago the young sisters on Phi Phi, and now this. My heart goes out to family and friends.

I have some questions to the PM the 18/6 I read that you were confident that tourism income will increase to THB 2 trillion.Do you ever read the news? Do you even know whats goes on in your own Country?

What are you going to do about it. Why don´t you and PTP stop concentrating on whitewash your "brother" and start Govern the Country.

RIP.

Good point. You could ask perhaps ask one of the two Democrat MP's for Phuket who is also a Phuket Resort and Spa owner. And perhaps the Democrat Senator who is the Chairwoman of the Senate Committee for Tourism, and who's husband is the owner of a major Phuket hotel chain.

[Asiantravel]

... overwhelmingly, foreign tourists fail to understand what Thailand really is, and the cost of that failure is too often very, very high ... pumped full of sunshine and the image of Thai smiles, foreigners are woefully unprepared for how African bad things in Thailand go when they go wrong.

i was thinking just yesterday how expats may be treated by the less farang tolerant Thai's

( i.e. how safe would it be ) here in event of a worse global financial crisis than 2008 and things got desperate ?

[Reasonableman]

http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/thailand-deadliest-destination-for-aussie-tourists/story-e6frfq80-1225770146959

From 2009... Thailand deadliest destination for Aussie tourists. Thailand was fifth of the top 10 destinations list with 378,000 visitors, but recorded the most Australian tourist deaths with 105. In 2008-09, 1038 Australians died while on overseas holidays, up from 994 the previous year and a huge jump from 2004-05, when 642 perished.

[toenail]

I suppose now as visitors in this country we will be instructed to just give our wallets or hangbags or necklaces to the motor bike thieves.

[jko]

The fact that this lady was a travel agent on a familiarisation tour is likely to have a very negative impact on tourism to Phuket.

This press release was emailed to travel trade subscribers today.

Australian travel agent murdered in Phuket

Trip ends in tragedy as bag-snatching killers flee on motorbike Read more

Bag snatching way of life and now death in Phuket

Women most at risk of attack from motorbike robbers Read more

What a cruel tragedy, utmost deepest sympathies to the family and friends of this poor woman.

[fishhooks]

... thankfullly, the advent of the Internet and social media is having it's impact, knocking down the false image of Thailand as a safe country, which has been carefully crafted by international advertising agencies for the TAT ... for those who live and work here and understand the Thai culture, Thailand is far closer to being a corrupt, tribal Sub-Saharan African nation than a developing Asian nation.

... overwhelmingly, foreign tourists fail to understand what Thailand really is, and the cost of that failure is too often very, very high ... pumped full of sunshine and the image of Thai smiles, foreigners are woefully unprepared for how African bad things in Thailand go when they go wrong.

... perhaps the foreign diplomatic missions in Thailand should collectively create and fund an independent organization to help defend their citizens in Thailand ... a service which is available to anyone with a foreign passport:

• Compile and publish authoritative and reliable checklist on the risks to visitors in Thailand (as opposed to the carefully crafted TAT propaganda, and the well-known censored Thai media and Internet);
  
• Provide pre-qualified independent forensic professionals to verify Thai post-mortems, and perform their own post-mortems;
  
• Provide police-trained foreign detectives who speak Thai to investigate foreigner deaths;
  
• Create and supply a proper pathology lab in Thailand, or contract with third party offshore pathology labs to conduct their own reports.
  

... someone needs to step-up and start defending foreigners in Thailand ... the Royal Thai [fill in the blank - any Thai department will do] sure isn't going to defend foreigners.

... as more and more Thai crooks discover that we are without protection, we become easy prey and it becomes open season by Thai crooks and corrupt Thai officials on foreigners in Thailand.

Good post and agreed, but let's also agree to a thread on T.V. which generates each year on January 1 entitled:

"Nothing Has Changed During The Last 12 Months Has It"

There will only need to be one very short 2 letter reply!

[brewsterbudgen]

A very sad, tragic event. But do people really think this type of evil crime doesn't happen in any major tourist resort or city around the world?Why is it always necessary to vilify Phuket/Pattaya/Thailand whenever it happens here?

[elektrified]

My condolences to the victims and their families. How terribly sad.

I'll say one thing: Phuket is not the lovely place that it was when I first went there in 1989 and a number of times thereafter. Having not been for quite a number of years I went the first week of this month with my family. Putting aside the weather, it was quite possibly the worst vacation I have ever had in my life. Phuket has changed so much. All the construction and loss of beautiful natural resources... We went to Patong for a couple of days and couldn't believe how many foreign criminals there were there. We were approached by Russians, Pakistanis, Cambodians? and a number of others offering illegal products, substances, and services. I will NEVER visit Phuket again. I wish I hadn't gone and kept the wonderful memories of the past alive...

[spidermike007]

oh man, this is not cool,with all the talk about saving face in this country, where's the face in a cowardly act like this? it may not have been Thais, but they were men in Thailand, what the hell is going on here? forget jetski's and scams,this is the stuff tourists are really scared of, being attacked and killed while taking a pleasant walk...dam_n it, after Phi Phi, this one could seal their fate...RIP and condolences to families.

Of course they were young Thai punks. The toy police of media may fabricate a story otherwise, but we know. The police are ineffective here, to the extreme. Will the culprits be caught? If they are from wealthy families, Will they serve time. Just admit the system is completely broken.

[Yunla]

Are you for real??? the problem is here long before the PTP, c'mon just focus on the facts, Yes call on government to inforce a real change,

try being proactive not reactive.

I was referring to the government of today, acting to stop criminals today. This is not a partisan issue. The Cabinet is full of convicted criminals and relatives of on-the-run criminals. To be fair, I haven't seen any previous governments in recent history that were so choc-full of actual convicted criminals or fugitives from the law.

My point was actually saying that the reason the Russian mob etc. come to Thailand is that it is lawless, and for criminals the lawlessness is a positive factor. For the same reason, a government run by a convicted on-the-run criminal, with a cabinet staffed by out-on-bail criminals, actually stands to benefit from there being a weak legal system and mass-corruption among officials. For criminals, corruption is the ocean in which they swim, and it is in their interests to keep it that way.

The analogy often made is of a tree. The government are the roots of the tree, and the police are the branches and people the leaves. If the roots are rotten, the rest of the tree will die too. And there is no point trying to fix mouldy leaves, or rotting branches, when the actual roots are completely rotten. People look to their leaders for inspiration, the street-kid robbing bags looks to the police and sees they are totally corrupt, the police look to Govt and see they are corrupt too. Only by having a strong leadership with law-abiding integrity, will you get higher standards of integrity within the police and eventually the citizenry. It takes a long time and it is not perfect but you can not make a tree with rotten roots look like a healthy tree.

Edited June 21, 2012 by Yunla

[Reasonableman]

A very sad, tragic event. But do people really think this type of evil crime doesn't happen in any major tourist resort or city around the world?Why is it always necessary to vilify Phuket/Pattaya/Thailand whenever it happens here?

Perhaps because that's where it happens... and when it rains plummeting farang from high-rises in Nakhon Nowhere the focus shifts there. In what way is that inappropriate?

[bipper]

They'll walk! If a rich uncle appears, even if they are caught. I was stabbed 2 years ago in Hua Hin by a minor for no good reason I am sorry to say. The assailant jumped bail (I'm told) and nothing has been heard from him or the Police since. May this poor girl RIP. There but for the grace of God. Let's hope the other girl will be OK and may she get over the immense shock of this which will be difficult for some time to come.

[NoshowJones]

]I believe there is something in a lot of what you say, but I could not walk around the centre of Glasgow or any shopping areas after dark and sometimes during the day without being approached by menacing people, I can walk about Bangkok anytime without fears for my safety, though that is not to say nothing will happen, anything can happen, but I do feel safer here if you take away places like Phuket which I have never been.

Its true that if you walk with cameras and nice bags, maybe dressed more expensively than the locals, it will attract criminals like sharks to blood. That is true allover the world if you go to the bad neighbourhoods. You are so right about Glasgow, and there are poor neighbourhoods all over England too where you would just never go walking through those neighbourhoods wearing a nice camera and a cheerful smile, or you would never do that a second time anyway. Theres serious predators allover urban UK who wouldn't give you a second chance at all. I've been burgled and mugged so many times around city Leeds, but I've never been burgled or mugged in city Bangkok in the same timespan. But most likely in Europe the cops will arrest the guilty people, or at least try to. The difference and problem in Thailand is the lack of legal accountability, due to the police-corruption and ineptitude which is as common here as the sun rising in the morning.

]I believe there is something in a lot of what you say, but I could not walk around the centre of Glasgow or any shopping areas after dark and sometimes during the day without being approached by menacing people, I can walk about Bangkok anytime without fears for my safety, though that is not to say nothing will happen, anything can happen, but I do feel safer here if you take away places like Phuket which I have never been.

Its true that if you walk with cameras and nice bags, maybe dressed more expensively than the locals, it will attract criminals like sharks to blood. That is true allover the world if you go to the bad neighbourhoods. You are so right about Glasgow, and there are poor neighbourhoods all over England too where you would just never go walking through those neighbourhoods wearing a nice camera and a cheerful smile, or you would never do that a second time anyway. Theres serious predators allover urban UK who wouldn't give you a second chance at all. I've been burgled and mugged so many times around city Leeds, but I've never been burgled or mugged in city Bangkok in the same timespan. But most likely in Europe the cops will arrest the guilty people, or at least try to. The difference and problem in Thailand is the lack of legal accountability, due to the police-corruption and ineptitude which is as common here as the sun rising in the morning.

You're right in what you say Yunla.

[Notstupid30]

I was walking home one night after a night out and two Thai's come up the back of me with a grass knife to my neck .. I was very lucky because i wasn't carrying anything apart from a pack of cigarette ... I was a bit shocked after it and a few days later i moved out the area when i use to live in Bangkok ..

Also Amazing Thailand this week there have been some bad incident involving foreign tourist .. my condolences to all the families ..

Edited June 21, 2012 by Notstupid30

[apalink_thailand]

My advice is to avoid Pattaya and Phuket completely. There are so many nice places in Thailand. You rarely hear about this kind of thing happening to tourists elsewhere. Any sensible travel agent would send there customers to places far more reflective of Thailand traditions and culture. Not to mention the beaches are far nicer on many of the islands than in Phuket or Pattaya areas.

My condolences to the victims and their families. How terribly sad.

I'll say one thing: Phuket is not the lovely place that it was when I first went there in 1989 and a number of times thereafter. Having not been for quite a number of years I went the first week of this month with my family. Putting aside the weather, it was quite possibly the worst vacation I have ever had in my life. Phuket has changed so much. All the construction and loss of beautiful natural resources... We went to Patong for a couple of days and couldn't believe how many foreign criminals there were there. We were approached by Russians, Pakistanis, Cambodians? and a number of others offering illegal products, substances, and services. I will NEVER visit Phuket again. I wish I hadn't gone and kept the wonderful memories of the past alive...

Totally agree ! I had the exact same experience and could not believe the changes. The scams start right at the airport. I cant stand the place any more.

[Felt 35]

We were discussing this incident this morning in another area here and all the comments were directed to the support of the victim.

There are times and places to vilify Phuket and all that has tragically gone wrong there ... but maybe not this time, not this day and not this thread.

Stop talking rubbish.

There is no-one on here that does not feel sympathy for the victims, and in so doing are right to highlight their own personal opinions regarding the safety or otherwise of Phuket which is the topic of the thread.

Stop trying to censor people or stopping them from their right to free speech on this board, of you don't like it - find another board.

Crobe

Could you at least have dropped the free speech teory!

[EyesWideOpen]

The implosion of Phuket continues....I have often stated on TV that if the police/mafia actually did policing instead of manning mia noi support checkpoints they might actually be able to deter street crimes of this type. So the Phuket experiment of the mafia running the government there is simply not going well... I lived there in 1999 and loved it. Now I would not set foot there.

[Felt 35]

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 ....

If I am reading your post correctly ... you want the Australian Government to 'slap a ban' of Phuket or on Thailand?

Phuket maybe be difficult to do because it's not a Nation.

The whole of Thailand is not Phuket.

they can place a ban a travel warning and emphasis the the cities to stay away from , such as bali did , bangkok etc ....the crime in phuket is out of control , the sad thing is farangs are beginning to accept it as normal ...my point is this, until the govt"s of other countries get serious about protecting their own citizens abroad ..the murders , rapes , bashings , robberies ,traffic accidents will only get worse ...

6 months ban from every Nation, and for the individual who not follow his Travel insurance is void.

[cdmtdm]

i got stopped recently at the chalong circle... actually before the circle outside the school , they were stopping every farang on bike or car , they even had a cop at a desk collecting the cash etc it was like seven eleven.... 500 baht for no seat belt, or helmet and 1000 if no license ...the queue was long and most of the day ..big money ... joooooookkkeeeeee

Okay, so that's a fact. I don't think you are going to get any sympathy today on a thread such as this!

Not RELATED

i am trying to point out the only work they do ....is above not for sympathy go back and read all the thread old chap

[seancbk]

Quote :-

"the woman, among a group of travel agents from Perth"

So possibly a working holiday to see what to recommend to their Australian customers.

If that is the case I can't imagine too many of these travel agents are going to go back and start recommending Thailand for a holiday.

[superduper]

WOW!!! The tourist deaths are really piling up this year. I can't remember reading about so many in prior years. Is Thailand become more lawless or did all these attacks go unreported in prior years. As these deaths mount, more travel books and websites are going to sound the alarms and dangers about visiting Thailand. I'm sure the TAT will ask for more money to gloss over everything and come up with a new catchy slogan "Thailand -- Staying Alive -- Smiley Smiley Fun Fun"