Australian Stabbed In Heart In Thai Bag-Snatch Tragedy

[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?

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?

I never said it was inappropriate. I just think it's surprising that some people seem to expect Thailand to be different from anywhere else.

[uranuss]

I dont think any "travel bans" will be needed. @PHUKET is now trending on twitter australia ,and elsewhere i should imagine.

What are they all tweeting about?

[simple1]

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...

+1

[starkey_rich]

TAT are calling this a rare incident.

Just read on another Phuket news source that a British guy was stabbed in the Chalong area last night.

About time TAT took their heads out of their a----

[chooka]

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.

Not according to Thais, listening to 3AW radio streamed from Melbourne they spoke to a spokeswoman from the Phuket hotels association or similar who says that this is an extremely isolated incident and thefts and other crimes in Phuket are very low. They do not believe that an incident such as this will have an impact on tourism.

They have a user feedback page for the news item,

http://www.3aw.com.a...0621-20p5p.html

Just had a look at that site, not to many positive remarks from past visitors (tourists) to Phuket.

[NomadJoe]

Just spoke to a co-worker whose friend works at Kata Thani. She was told that this happened on the hill between Kata and Kata Noi, and that the staff at KataThani were told the robbers accidentally stabbed the women while trying to cut the straps of their purses.

[Soutpeel]

Just spoke to a co-worker whose friend works at Kata Thani. She was told that this happened on the hill between Kata and Kata Noi, and that the staff at KataThani were told the robbers accidentally stabbed the women while trying to cut the straps of their purses.

And of course when the culprits are caught...this will be the excuse....We killed the lady by accident, sorry your honour...we didnt mean to do it...

[lensta]

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.

I suggest you get rid of your GF as her comment shows exactly what she thinks of you and why she is with you. Sad

[chooka]

I dont think any "travel bans" will be needed. @PHUKET is now trending on twitter australia ,and elsewhere i should imagine.

What are they all tweeting about?

The feedback on numerous sites in Australia is not good and on the electronic media bad news and reputation travel fast. TAT will make a press release soon saying Australian tourist numbers are going through the roof and all is fine.

[mickyboy]

is it me or is this crime happening more and more and more in thailand seeems to be a bit hell hole not the land of smiles and paradise even the wife who thai and lives now in the uk told me she wouldnt bother with it there and the uk so much better even if the weather rubbish mind you when the crime starts at the top soon works it way to the bottom and as they say some thing for nothing is allways a great temptation is it to do with the internet and other outside things that has made the eople there agresive and wanting what they dont have and thinking they got i want it greed i like to think that they catch theses people and they get what they deserve such a shame as all they wanted was a nice hoilday but as i see its just more and more and more with rape robbery mugging drugging and on and on and with the police coruption and the mafia from all over eastern europe i think i give it a miss unless you know where it diffrent there

[chooka]

Just spoke to a co-worker whose friend works at Kata Thani. She was told that this happened on the hill between Kata and Kata Noi, and that the staff at KataThani were told the robbers accidentally stabbed the women while trying to cut the straps of their purses.

Told by who, the actual offenders or a speculator?

[monty1412]

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

Thank you again for your insights into free speech.

In a thread where we are collectively mourning the loss of a fellow citizen and I politely ask that this thread may not be the appropriate moment to rage against Phuket and to focus on the victim instead, you are suggesting that I leave?

You talk about free speech ... yet deny me mine?

You say that 'There is no-one on here that does not feel sympathy for the victims' ... well actually there have been and the Mods have seen fit to remove those comments ... and rightfully so.

So ... on a morning where I and many other Australians are mourning the loss of a fellow citizen … maybe the focus can be about her and this tragedy and we can leave discussing Phukets ills for another day?

David48 Im not sure where you are coming from here. No one denies you the right to suggest that any side discussions are moved to a later day/ different thread.. your opinion... however having free speech doesnt mean we have to comply with what you suggest.

Im with Crobe on this one.

Yes all of us are very saddened by this occurrence and condolences to family and friends.

Certainly nothing disrespectul nor flippant should be written here by any of us however also think that part of that free speech you advocate needs to encompass understanding that people do have views on this whole issue and the bigger issue of Phuket and its slide into lawlessness wild west

David48 if you want a post where people post their condolences only then start one up and ask in the OP that people respect this and don't add side commentary.

[Screws]

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?

irrelevant.

[chooka]

Just spoke to a co-worker whose friend works at Kata Thani. She was told that this happened on the hill between Kata and Kata Noi, and that the staff at KataThani were told the robbers accidentally stabbed the women while trying to cut the straps of their purses.

And of course when the culprits are caught...this will be the excuse....We killed the lady by accident, sorry your honour...we didnt mean to do it...

It is sad and probably true, if they even face a court after the secondary victims and witnesses have returned to Australia. This poor woman and I just can't understand why to men would need to use a weapon on a 60 yr old woman

[weka]

Stop all the hand wringing and requests for action.

The simple fact is that, here in Thailand, nobody cares.

The cops don't care, the government doesn't care, the Phuket council doesn't care - nobody cares what happens to non Thais in Thailand - simple as that.

It's completely proven by the shoddy half arsed responses to these calamities, or the prevention of such calamities in the future

Condolences to this lady and I hope her colleagues spread the word - travel to Thailand at your own risk, because if something happens the Authorities do not care

[how241]

Thank god there will be no conspiracy theories! It is a clear cut cold blooded murder, lawlessness in the extreme.!

+1. I hope they are caught soon.

[Skywalker69]

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.

Sense I run out of

You have reached your quota of positive votes for the day.

again I have to quote.100% agreed, god post.

[brewsterbudgen]

is it me or is this crime happening more and more and more in thailand seeems to be a bit hell hole not the land of smiles and paradise even the wife who thai and lives now in the uk told me she wouldnt bother with it there and the uk so much better even if the weather rubbish mind you when the crime starts at the top soon works it way to the bottom and as they say some thing for nothing is allways a great temptation is it to do with the internet and other outside things that has made the eople there agresive and wanting what they dont have and thinking they got i want it greed i like to think that they catch theses people and they get what they deserve such a shame as all they wanted was a nice hoilday but as i see its just more and more and more with rape robbery mugging drugging and on and on and with the police coruption and the mafia from all over eastern europe i think i give it a miss unless you know where it diffrent there

Yes, this type of crime is probably happening here more frequently but it is inevitable in any country that is developing (or has developed) rapidly, with the concurrent disparities between rich and poor and the increased use of drugs. It's still far less likely to happen in Thailand than most European tourist resorts and the USA, and muggings like this are far more common in the UK. An incident like this tragedy would hardly make the papers in the UK!

[bunta71]

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?

Frequency

[EyesWideOpen]

I am going to go out on a limb here, and state I think the culprits will be caught within two days, and they will be Burmese immigrant fall guys...

[klubex99]

Crime doesn't need to be on the rise to get worse, and that goes for anywhere.

If an incident sparks enough outrage to affect the tourism in a particular area such as Phuket (and this will). Then say 5% of 'would-be' visitors decide to go elsewhere, then that means the concentration of risk increases for the 95% stoic visitors. because the level of criminality will not decrease in sympathy with the drop off in tourism.

This extra risk factor is exponential and can reach a tipping point where such a high % of travelers become victims, that a place becomes infamously notorious as a very high risk area to visit. That in itself can totally destroy a location for travelers.

When Malawi in central Africa re-opened to tourism after banning tourists for about 25 years, i was one of the first to visit the country. One or two tourists were murdered in robberies, and that spurred the government into action. they imposed an immediate minimum of 25 years jail sentence with no hope for parole and a maximum of the death penalty for ANY crimes against a tourist no matter how trivial... If it is against a tourist, you are f****d. Considering that not many people survive a Malawi prison for more than 12 months, Then you could say that you are literally risking everything...

Anyway, it worked. Crimes against tourists was totally nipped in the bud.

If the Thai government really want to protect its precious tourist trade, I would suggest they take a leaf out of Malawi's book. It would take a simple change in the law society, and that will be suffice.

Edited June 21, 2012 by klubex99

[F1fanatic]

There was a spate of these type of attacks in Rawai/Chalong/Kata a couple of years ago? Although (from memory) they often attacked tourists on scooters?

They suddenly stopped, so I assumed the police had caught up with them and dispensed their own 'warnings' in one way or another?..

It would be nice to know its not the same gang that have just moved a little further North.

My heart goes out to the victim and her family. Such a senseless death for, probably, a few hundred baht.

[BarryM]

Comparisons with places like Glasgow are meaningless. Phuket is promoted as a safe family destination. How many tourists have been murdered, drowned, poisoned, assaulted, raped or scammed in Dorset in the last twelve months?

[F1fanatic]

is it me or is this crime happening more and more and more in thailand seeems to be a bit hell hole not the land of smiles and paradise even the wife who thai and lives now in the uk told me she wouldnt bother with it there and the uk so much better even if the weather rubbish mind you when the crime starts at the top soon works it way to the bottom and as they say some thing for nothing is allways a great temptation is it to do with the internet and other outside things that has made the eople there agresive and wanting what they dont have and thinking they got i want it greed i like to think that they catch theses people and they get what they deserve such a shame as all they wanted was a nice hoilday but as i see its just more and more and more with rape robbery mugging drugging and on and on and with the police coruption and the mafia from all over eastern europe i think i give it a miss unless you know where it diffrent there

Yes, this type of crime is probably happening here more frequently but it is inevitable in any country that is developing (or has developed) rapidly, with the concurrent disparities between rich and poor and the increased use of drugs. It's still far less likely to happen in Thailand than most European tourist resorts and the USA, and muggings like this are far more common in the UK. An incident like this tragedy would hardly make the papers in the UK!

Rubbish. A tourist killed by a bag-snatcher - it would make the papers.

[brewsterbudgen]

Comparisons with places like Glasgow are meaningless. Phuket is promoted as a safe family destination. How many tourists have been murdered, drowned, poisoned, assaulted, raped or scammed in Dorset in the last twelve months?

I'd be interested to see where Phuket is being promoted as a safe destination, particularly after the 2004 tsunami.

[brewsterbudgen]

is it me or is this crime happening more and more and more in thailand seeems to be a bit hell hole not the land of smiles and paradise even the wife who thai and lives now in the uk told me she wouldnt bother with it there and the uk so much better even if the weather rubbish mind you when the crime starts at the top soon works it way to the bottom and as they say some thing for nothing is allways a great temptation is it to do with the internet and other outside things that has made the eople there agresive and wanting what they dont have and thinking they got i want it greed i like to think that they catch theses people and they get what they deserve such a shame as all they wanted was a nice hoilday but as i see its just more and more and more with rape robbery mugging drugging and on and on and with the police coruption and the mafia from all over eastern europe i think i give it a miss unless you know where it diffrent there

Yes, this type of crime is probably happening here more frequently but it is inevitable in any country that is developing (or has developed) rapidly, with the concurrent disparities between rich and poor and the increased use of drugs. It's still far less likely to happen in Thailand than most European tourist resorts and the USA, and muggings like this are far more common in the UK. An incident like this tragedy would hardly make the papers in the UK!

Rubbish. A tourist killed by a bag-snatcher - it would make the papers.

Maybe the local papers, but I doubt it would engender the "horrified" reactions that this has done.

[happysanook]

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.

You may well FEEL safer but there are no grounds to assert that Thailand IS safer. Even with the Thai's manipulation of the stats, Glasgow & Scotland are much safer places than Bangkok & Thailand. For Thais Thailand has always been a dangerous place but they never used to harm the goose that lays the golden egg to such an extent.

Exactly. The keyword being "feel"... Because they're smiling at you while plotting how to screw you..

[NomadJoe]

Just spoke to a co-worker whose friend works at Kata Thani. She was told that this happened on the hill between Kata and Kata Noi, and that the staff at KataThani were told the robbers accidentally stabbed the women while trying to cut the straps of their purses.

Told by who, the actual offenders or a speculator?

Neither. My understanding was it came from the victims.

[blackthorn2005]

RIP to the victim.

Pretty sick you take a vacation and end up going back in a body bag!

It is becoming the norm for Phuket and it will continue as long as the island is run by corrupt politicians, police and business men, it starts at the top and works it's filthy way down to the filter feeders like these at the bottom. RIP.

[NomadJoe]

is it me or is this crime happening more and more and more in thailand seeems to be a bit hell hole not the land of smiles and paradise even the wife who thai and lives now in the uk told me she wouldnt bother with it there and the uk so much better even if the weather rubbish mind you when the crime starts at the top soon works it way to the bottom and as they say some thing for nothing is allways a great temptation is it to do with the internet and other outside things that has made the eople there agresive and wanting what they dont have and thinking they got i want it greed i like to think that they catch theses people and they get what they deserve such a shame as all they wanted was a nice hoilday but as i see its just more and more and more with rape robbery mugging drugging and on and on and with the police coruption and the mafia from all over eastern europe i think i give it a miss unless you know where it diffrent there

Yes, this type of crime is probably happening here more frequently but it is inevitable in any country that is developing (or has developed) rapidly, with the concurrent disparities between rich and poor and the increased use of drugs. It's still far less likely to happen in Thailand than most European tourist resorts and the USA, and muggings like this are far more common in the UK. An incident like this tragedy would hardly make the papers in the UK!

What a load of crap!

So you think the UK/USA is safer??

You cannot say "the UK/USA". Some parts of the USA are far more dangerous than just about any part of Thailand. Most parts of the USA are very safe. I wouldn't go to Saphan Hin after dark, but other than that I am comfortable walking around any part of Phuket day or night.