Cover Up? Australian Kickboxer 'Savagely Bashed In Phuket'

[manxninja]

Not a comedy genius i hope he makes a swift and full recovery. But being what you might say a man of the world i would say there are missing pieces to the story. Looks like a hiding and not just a random one by the injuries.

[ManInSurat]

Not a comedy genius i hope he makes a swift and full recovery. But being what you might say a man of the world i would say there are missing pieces to the story. Looks like a hiding and not just a random one by the injuries.

Alright mate, fair play.

Why would a random attack's injuries be less severe than a premediated one? I don't understand that though.

If you'd read what his Mum just said you'd see he'd lived in Thailand for 5 years, spent time at a school in the north, speaks Thai, respected Thais and was respected by them. Hardly the stereotype you appear to have in your head.

It's so easy to just tar someone with a brush before finding out what's what that it seems to be the norm, rather than a rarity these days.

Not to mention the fact that if it was your boy and you loved him and knew he was a good kid who got a totally unwarranted hiding, for no apparent reason, you'd probably be quite upset with people talking ill of your son and making totally unsubstantiated claims based on a few recent negative news stories featuring farang Muay Thai fighters in Thailand.

I find it amazing Deborah found the time and made the effort to let us know certain things. I can't think of any incident like this before. If you read what she says you can see she's being as geniuine as I think it's possible for someone to be.

Still quite stunned at the kind lady's response.

Edited June 22, 2012 by ManInSurat

[manxninja]

Yes no matter what happened the main thing is he gets good medical treatment and i hope he gets donations if the familly do not have the money to cover the medica bills. It looks like a pre meditated assault and he wont get justice for what happened. No one deserves to be beaten like that. Also big respect for mother to set the record straight he obviously comes from a loving familly.

[MEL1]

Not a comedy genius i hope he makes a swift and full recovery. But being what you might say a man of the world i would say there are missing pieces to the story. Looks like a hiding and not just a random one by the injuries.

a HIDING?

I was baseball batted 7 years ago, left with my nose by my ear, jaw by the other, all for a Nokia N95 in Liverpool.

That was a hiding.

I went to China to learn to fight Shaolin. Stayed there for 3 years. They deliberately broke every knuckle and wrist of mine, to make them fuse.

Yes, it was callous. But in a hard fight they cannot possibly break now, but it knackered up my guitar playing, and I was garde 8 classical at aged 14.

At age 22, no matter what training for 5 years, as mum says, was this guy able to defend a group.

But at this moment there is no mention of a group fight, and no witnesses. He wakes and says he didn't crash the bike. So he must have had a memory of the moment before he didn't crash the bike, surely?

Now if this guy is a 3rd Champion of Oz in kickboxing, in my experience we would have been easily able to handle 2 or 3 even if 1 came from behind.

My baseball knockout came from behind in Liverpool, but it didn't split my skull, and I am unscarred.

They kicked me to hell when I was out, but simply my jaw and nose were moved.

The scar I SAW on the photographic links clearly showed a large headline forhead split..... corresponding to frontal head impact, and I am no doctor, but I am an expert in car design and passenger crash.

A baseball bat, of fist, or foot would not cause such a lengthy scar, as the pictures reveal to me a head impact at speed with a large object.

If he was downed, then continually attacked then the zones of head impact would not be as extensive in length as the hospital pictures showed.

My extensive experience in automotive and cycle impacts, without restraints, indicate that he hit a large barrier of a kind.

No disrespect, Deborah, but I am also viewing from a secondary opinion.

I believe he did crash his bike, and was not assaulted and left to die by Thais.

-mel.

feel free to PM me on my expertise in crash analysis. I can re-construct with CAE the environment, given relevant details.

[robanywhere]

he should be thankful that he didn't "accidentally" fall from a high balcony, as has happened so many times in phuket and pattaya....

[ttelise]

You broke your hand and you play guitar? Taking martial arts a kid, we trained and were taught how to strike without breaking fingers and etc. I play guitar and I panicked once when I almost injured finger closing it in a door.

That is some hard core crazy stuff.

Edited June 22, 2012 by ttelise

[ttelise]

Who knows what happened here.

The worst part about it is why is there even any question? The injuries do seem consistent with blunt force trauma caused by low to mid speed impact into a fixed object. Low speed impact could cause fracture in cervical spine region without actually severing the spinal cord . . . I suppose. Seriously though, totally bizzare there would even be question.

[ManInSurat]

If you speak Thai, well, and find yourself at a loss in any situ; the simple words, "Mai ow pan ha", "Pom pen khun Thai, pom yoo thai sib bee, pom pasa Thai dee, pom mai ow pan ha gap khun krap, khun na krap".... is more than enough to get you out of any shit!!

There is a lingo consequence missing here too, Mrs Deborah. If your son spoke both Esan and Thai he would easily talk his way out of a potentially hot situation. If he was in a hot situ, and a 8 out of 9 winner of Muay Thai in Thailand at aged 22....... hum, was he pissed up?

Easy to call this one on a few thugs for the insurance, after a few serious incidents in the last week, but why didn't you spark up on TV 2 weeks ago? If you are his mother...... no disrespect, but we all know the place is full of weirdos, and you don't have too many regular posts............

Why did you turn to TV today? Plenty of higher profile media to go to, when you are spending your valued time looking after your son. The Sun UK would probably pay 100,000 pounds for the story with a pic....... but you sold out already..... soz about that.

-mel.

Ah Mel, Mel, Mel, Mel, Mel.

I totally expected something harsh and doubting.

It's totally situational. Speaking Thai does not mean you can automatically extricate yourself from every confrontation. If often causes confrontation in itself (speaking from experience), with people that want to have a fight with you and intend on doing your harm. It can exacerbate a situation and I'm speaking from experience.

I've seen lots of gang attacks on people in Thailand, or the results of them and it's common for the victim being attacked to be jumped from behind in a cowardly fashion. That's very par for the course here.

If this was a premeditated attack then even more reason to believe this point. Why would you bother having a chinwag with your victim if your intent isn't going to change any time soon.

Also, it's been said in the the linked articles (I'm sick of handing links out now, find it yourself) that blood analysis from the hopsital shows he was sober.

If you read what Deborah said in full (and I really doubt you have) you'd see the facts, tone and language used make this clearly from his Mum, to be suspicious of that and what has been said is really quite dissappointing to read.

It'll be very easy to coroborrate all of what Deborah has said. Why would someone automatically have a TV account. The world doesn't revolve around this forum you know?

Your cycnicism knows no bounds.

If Daniel's going to need dedicated long-term care and negative misinformation and speculation about your son could stop him getting the help he needed, wouldn't you try and do something to set the record straight.

I know I definitely would, without even thinking about it.

I'd really urge you to read what she said, in full as I don't think you have. There's no screaming and wailing, gnashing of teeth. It's pure facts from someone who has to be there, right now.

Your whole post about what your body can take and the shaolin thing is wrong on so many levels I don't really have the time to address it. It's really quite silly.

I hope you haven't made this lady's time even harder than it is by saying what you've said.

I defend your right to say whatever you want. Even if I think it's wrong. I think you might have gone a bit far here though mate.

Edited June 22, 2012 by ManInSurat

[Bender]

Not a comedy genius i hope he makes a swift and full recovery. But being what you might say a man of the world i would say there are missing pieces to the story. Looks like a hiding and not just a random one by the injuries.

a HIDING?

I was baseball batted 7 years ago, left with my nose by my ear, jaw by the other, all for a Nokia N95 in Liverpool.

That was a hiding.

I went to China to learn to fight Shaolin. Stayed there for 3 years. They deliberately broke every knuckle and wrist of mine, to make them fuse.

Yes, it was callous. But in a hard fight they cannot possibly break now, but it knackered up my guitar playing, and I was garde 8 classical at aged 14.

At age 22, no matter what training for 5 years, as mum says, was this guy able to defend a group.

But at this moment there is no mention of a group fight, and no witnesses. He wakes and says he didn't crash the bike. So he must have had a memory of the moment before he didn't crash the bike, surely?

Now if this guy is a 3rd Champion of Oz in kickboxing, in my experience we would have been easily able to handle 2 or 3 even if 1 came from behind.

My baseball knockout came from behind in Liverpool, but it didn't split my skull, and I am unscarred.

They kicked me to hell when I was out, but simply my jaw and nose were moved.

The scar I SAW on the photographic links clearly showed a large headline forhead split..... corresponding to frontal head impact, and I am no doctor, but I am an expert in car design and passenger crash.

A baseball bat, of fist, or foot would not cause such a lengthy scar, as the pictures reveal to me a head impact at speed with a large object.

If he was downed, then continually attacked then the zones of head impact would not be as extensive in length as the hospital pictures showed.

My extensive experience in automotive and cycle impacts, without restraints, indicate that he hit a large barrier of a kind.

No disrespect, Deborah, but I am also viewing from a secondary opinion.

I believe he did crash his bike, and was not assaulted and left to die by Thais.

-mel.

feel free to PM me on my expertise in crash analysis. I can re-construct with CAE the environment, given relevant details.

Are you on medication???

The thai apologist are getting more and more ridiculous.

[smedly]

why would the hospital say that his injuries are consistent with a motorcycle crash when the ambulance picked him up?

Did someone carry him to another location? you would think that the motorbike would still be there, wouldnt you? then you would be able to say he was picked up at the scene of the accident

Well from reading the OP and the Gold Coast article it would appear they moved him to this private hospital owing to a issue of mistrust.

That's why they've set up a FB donation page to pay for the exorbitant fees.

The original hospital staff or the paramedics on scene seem to think it was an RTA. It's totally plausible the new hospital have said something to the contrary. It'd be really nice to hear what the private hopsital assess as the cause of the injuries.

Surely they'd be able to tell the difference between a sustained attack and hitting a stationary object.

Again from the Gold Coast article

"We have him in a private hospital ... it's not cheap but it is the only one that we trust," he said. (His Dad said.)

I would imagine he was at a state run first and then moved shortly thereafter when the family got a chance to speak to Daniel and found out that he thought something was amiss. It seems they turned their suspicion on the hospital too at that time.

Not trusting a hospital is quite strange. I know corruption is rife, but it's one of the few instiutions that I'd like to believe aren't as bad as all the others.

Having said that, could I imagine a bent doctor in Thailand giving opinions under duress or expectation from the BiB or even corroborating with them? Yes I could. Sadly.

It seems to me the Dad talked to his son and his son is adamant he was attacked.

In that situation I know what I'd do for my boy. I can understand the family's actions here. Very understandable indeed.

Will we ever find out what actually happened? I highly doubt it.

sorry, i probably wasnt clear in my post, what I meant was, if it was a motorcycle accident there would be the bike present right? so if they are saying the wounds are consistent with a motorcycle accident, yep I could understand that, IF there was a bike there, it appears that its only speculation at this point, so they not sure, which indicates to me that there was no bike, if there was a bike which there usually is in bike accidents, i guess then that would take the guess work out of the equation

I think it's a given the bike was there - the debate is whether his assailants beat the shit out of him then beat the shit out of the bike

[smedly]

If you crash your bike and aren't wearing a helmet I doubt any impact damage to your head would cause these type of black eyes, it would either kill you or break your neck. I don't see those big black eyes consistent with crashing a motorbike.

actually a simple broken nose will cause eyes to swell up turn black and possibly even close - thats no trauma to the eyes at all - and if you read the OP you will discover that the injuries to this fellows upper face were quite horrific - so back to the drawing board for you

Actually, I said earlier, his other injuries - brain damage, skull damage, arm and neck damage. These imply if it was a bike crash it would be a serious crash. In a serious crash where as you say black eyes occur I would expect the cheeks nose and forehead and whole face to be bruised and cut up. The guys face looks really unhurt except the eyes and the ridge leading up from one eye. If you are saying he went flying off a bike and landed on his head I would expect the damage to be allover his face and not just his eyes.

He looks like every bloke I'm ever seen after they've come runner-up in a serious fight. In a bike crash I would expect either no injuries to face, or total massive head injuries depending on the type of crash. What he has got is bashed in eyes only, which seems a bit odd. You will also notice his eyes are smashed in, they are not as you say 'blackened from a broken nose' those eyes have taken a lot of damage directly all the way into the socket, and yet the surrounding face is fresh and sprucey.

actually - if what is suspected is true - he didn't go "flying off a bike" his bike came to a sudden stop after hitting something solid "like a post" so the injury is from a single hit as opposed to your assumption that is was a multiple hit beating - are u serious

[smedly]

Well if you live here in Thailand and have a Thai bank account, you can buy PA or Personal Accident Insurance from your bank. I have found Siam Commercial's to be better than Bangkok Bank's by the way. There are no exclusions that I know of, they didn't ask me for anything other than money...

and if you read it very carefully you are covered for about 50kbaht hospital and you're out on your arse.....not worth the paper it's written on... you think you're covered lol. take this as friendly advice and check your policy

[Bender]

I can understand Daniel's mom reaction on this forum. We have a bunch of really weirdos people bashing his own son.

People that try to portrayed him like a little thug.

Wake up, wake up thailand is a 3rd world country. Few days ago a ederly woman got stabbed.

The chance that Daniel was beaten by a group of thai a really quite high.

Few days ago 2 girl dies from poisoning, and weird people talking about ibuprofen or portuguese rapist...

Here 2 story of mine:

Some of you might know Mike the manager of Tony Gym on third road in pattaya. A really big guy.

One day, while driving to the gym on early morning, in a small street he got heavily hit on his head.

2 young thai guy on the street hit him on the head with a wood stick and steal his motobike.

Dont trust me go ask him?

Another friend and the same story. My friend was driving home by night. This time 2 young thai followed him by motorbike. And when they reach pratumnak hill, an isolated area, while still driving, they came close to him and hit his head with a stick. He crashed down. And again the young thug made it with the bike.

Its why i avoid like hell place like pattaya, phuket or phi phi island.

Edited June 22, 2012 by Bender

[chops]

I had a motorbike accident and I had a black eye.

Well I'm 46, have ridden motobikes since i was 12, I can't ever remember in the many times I've dropped a motorbike, not taking any skin off my palms or hands, or elbows.

At the type of speed that would cause those injuries.

Also as mentioned, his injuries aren't consistent with a motorcycle crash.

Maybe it was a deal gone wrong, either drug or some other type. steroid, yaba, that of course is pure speculation, and baseless.

Or perhaps he was seeing a girl he shouldn't have been.

Regardless I wish him well, he is lucky to be alive.

I hope he recovers well, that may be the end of his career as a muay thai fighter though.

I had a bike accident and I had a black eye too.

[smedly]

My name is Deborah and I am Daniel's mum. I have read many of the posts regarding this incident and thought it would be fair to clear up some things.

Firstly Daniel was with a friend and they went to Laguna Bar in Rawai. Daniel wanted to go out because he was starting a heavy regime of training as he was preparing for a title fight in Malaysia early July.

Daniel is a high profile fighter and ranks 3rd in the Australian International Kickboxer ratings. Also known as the best foreigner fighter in his weight division in Phuket.

His training is very stringent and his commitment to this title fight was all he talked about.

On June 7, Daniel went with his friend to Laguna Bar and then left his friend at 12:30am (June 8) to collect another friend from Shanti Lodge. When he got there the friend wasn't there

so as far as Daniel recollects he headed back to Laguna Bar to reconnect with Alex. However, for whatever reason, Daniel detoured

and said he remembers an unmanned gas tank and thinks he may have stopped to fill the rented bike with petrol. His bike was broken down at our house and he rented a bike

to get around that afternoon.

Daniel never made it back to his friend Alex, but instead was found in Soi Saiyuan. The ambulance was called at 2:05 am.

We spoke to the hospital via an interpreter and we were told that Daniel may have hit a road hump or pot hole and had an accident.

The following day I had 2 people go into the area to look for any hazards that may have caused him to have this accident. I know the road as well as Daniel

to know there were no speed humps there, but maybe an unforeseen pot hole. The 2 men investigated the road up and down and reported there were

no pot holes or hazards at the site of the "accident".

When I saw Daniel laying in hospital I was just glad he was alive and with no evidence of brain damage. But I later thought about the absence of grazing

and skin tears to his arms and face. He was wearing thick jeans, and I thought he may have been wearing his leather jacket as he usually does at night on the bike.

However his friend informed me that Daniel was only wearing a black polo shirt that night.

People that came to visit him brought to our attention that in their opinion Daniel did not have a motorcycle accident and that we needed to investigate this further.

Later that week our doctor who was caring for him at home approached me and asked me if I had considered that Daniel's injuries were not due to a motorcycle accident. That in his

experience with forensics, he was clearly beaten with a bat or an object of the sort and that the injuries were caused to cause permanent damage or even death.

The very next day my husband went to file a police report. The police drew a sketch of where he was found and told Steve that there were road works in that location and that

Daniel had the accident there and hit a pole. My husband informed them there were no "road works' there on the day. They repeated the same story.

We have never mentioned the attackers were Thai and they may very well have been foreigners. What we do know for sure is that Daniel is a respected member of the

community. He isn't arrogant or rude, nor does he boast about his achievements and talents. He has been living in Thailand almost 5 years, 2 of them in Ubon where he learnt

to speak Thai. He has high respect for Thais and knows how to conduct himself. He is not on Ya Ba or any such drugs and has nothing to hide. When asked if he owes money

or has been involved with the wrong people, he says "I don't know of anyone who would do this to me, or want to do this to me." Anyone that has had any contact with Daniel

will verify that he is a decent, respectful and talented young man whose only dream is to make it big in the Muay Thai world. He left to go to Ubon at 18 and Muay Thai is his life.

The damage to the rented bike is not consistent with the damage to his face and neck and arm. He had severe bruising on the inside of his wrist of the right hand and the back of both hands. His right

hand was so badly bruised and swollen like a blown up rubber glove, but no grazes. If he hit a pole, how were his hands so badly bruised at the top? How big was this post that he received so much damage in

so many different places of his face and shoulder and hands and wrists?

This appeared as though he put his hands up to protect his face and received blows in these areas. He had multiple breaks, severe breaks to the top and under the nose and face. His eye socket

was smashed to pieces that the surgeon was unable to mend any of the bones. Lost teeth and many loose ones. A clean laceration to the forehead starting from the inside of his right eye to the hair line.

Stitches also above his left eyebrow and bruising to the left side of the face and temple, bruising around the neck and to the back of the neck, internal bleeding in the abdomen area, which may have been received from kicks.

Daniel's body is conditioned to receive blows. He also had bruises to both his hips.

The bike however only received broken review mirrors and the top panel between the handle bars was damaged. Did the bike land on its top without any further scratches or dents?

Maybe he received a phone call to meet someone in that area. We will never know because his phone and wallet are gone.

As for those asking whether he had insurance. Yes of course he has insurance. Health and Accident Insurance. We are all insured. But the insurance was used up to reconstruct his face and mouth.

He was in Vitchera hospital and was kept in the emergency section for 5 days.

Was he wearing a helmet? No he wasn't. His full head helmet was stolen from his bike 2 days prior to the incident.

I hope this lays to rest some of your suspicions. Daniel now needs extensive and on going treatment. I have given up my job to take care of him as he needs assistance with almost everything.

My husband and I take turns looking after him as do my parents and his 17 year old sister. The fund raiser is to help him regain full use of his right arm that is at the moment is paralysed as he

has not a millimeter of movement from the shoulder down, and no sensation whatsoever.

I can understand why and how people can jump to conclusions. However, we have not made these claims lightly. I wish it had been a motorcycle accident, he most certainly may have

received far less injuries. Daniel is of good spirit and remains positive. He is looking forward to a full recovery and says " I will fight with one arm if I have to....but I'd rather use both."

you have added a lot of information to this thread but on the face of it the injuries could still be consistant with the type of accident reported (except note below **), when you hit something solid like a pole "head on" your whole body will eventually be in contact with the pole causing multiple injuries - I know very traumatic for anyone to do but think about it in slow motion - head hit's first then the rest of the body follows - most of these injuries are possible. The damage to the motorbike would suggest a low speed impact were it flipped up and also hit the post - impact points would be front tyre and headlight or above area, the seat/ rear of the bike would also have come in behind the rider and may have caused some injury, THERE SHOULD BE DAMAGE TO THE POLE AND BITS OF THE BIKE LAYING AROUND THERE ? I have heard no mention of the pole itself and the immediate area being examined ?

** the injuries of a single hit impact are usually very localised to one area - the impact zone - which could be all central - head (depending on where facing) body and include arms hands legs and neck, you stated that he had sustained injuries to both sides of his face - this raises a question for me, the only way to explain this is if he travelled on and hit something else ""or his head injuries are not consistant with a motorbike accident""

Deborah - I hope Daniel you and your family somehow find a way through this very traumatic experience, having never met Daniel and after reading through this thread I sort of think I have, what a lovely young man and a very tight and loving family, I hope I have not offended in any of my post above and my thoughts are with you all

Edited June 22, 2012 by smedly

[Yunla]

actually - if what is suspected is true - he didn't go "flying off a bike" his bike came to a sudden stop after hitting something solid "like a post" so the injury is from a single hit as opposed to your assumption that is was a multiple hit beating - are u serious

It would have to be a strangely shaped post, which hit certain places on his face and left the rest unharmed. Also re: multiple hit, the guy is early twenties age, super-fit professional fighter. Of course a single hit would not cause all that damage, unless it was a high-speed crash in which case it would have done a lot more damage than black eyes and a damaged arm. Kick boxers are very supple and flexible and their training is designed to recoil and absorb impacts. Imo the damage done to him was by many repeated blows with blunt crushing damage, most of it while he was on the floor and no longer defending himself, or recoiling.

Also you might ask why the hospital said he crashed by going into a pothole which doesn't exist.

I'm looking more at Animatic's original suggestion that mob-interests behind the fight scene did this to stop him fighting. That doesn't mean they were Thai, there is a lot of foreign mafia in Phuket, some of them are seriously violent criminals.

Edited June 23, 2012 by Yunla

[ShanePashen]

My name is Deborah and I am Daniel's mum. I have read many of the posts regarding this incident and thought it would be fair to clear up some things.

Firstly Daniel was with a friend and they went to Laguna Bar in Rawai. Daniel wanted to go out because he was starting a heavy regime of training as he was preparing for a title fight in Malaysia early July.

Daniel is a high profile fighter and ranks 3rd in the Australian International Kickboxer ratings. Also known as the best foreigner fighter in his weight division in Phuket.

His training is very stringent and his commitment to this title fight was all he talked about.

On June 7, Daniel went with his friend to Laguna Bar and then left his friend at 12:30am (June 8) to collect another friend from Shanti Lodge. When he got there the friend wasn't there

so as far as Daniel recollects he headed back to Laguna Bar to reconnect with Alex. However, for whatever reason, Daniel detoured

and said he remembers an unmanned gas tank and thinks he may have stopped to fill the rented bike with petrol. His bike was broken down at our house and he rented a bike

to get around that afternoon.

Daniel never made it back to his friend Alex, but instead was found in Soi Saiyuan. The ambulance was called at 2:05 am.

We spoke to the hospital via an interpreter and we were told that Daniel may have hit a road hump or pot hole and had an accident.

The following day I had 2 people go into the area to look for any hazards that may have caused him to have this accident. I know the road as well as Daniel

to know there were no speed humps there, but maybe an unforeseen pot hole. The 2 men investigated the road up and down and reported there were

no pot holes or hazards at the site of the "accident".

When I saw Daniel laying in hospital I was just glad he was alive and with no evidence of brain damage. But I later thought about the absence of grazing

and skin tears to his arms and face. He was wearing thick jeans, and I thought he may have been wearing his leather jacket as he usually does at night on the bike.

However his friend informed me that Daniel was only wearing a black polo shirt that night.

People that came to visit him brought to our attention that in their opinion Daniel did not have a motorcycle accident and that we needed to investigate this further.

Later that week our doctor who was caring for him at home approached me and asked me if I had considered that Daniel's injuries were not due to a motorcycle accident. That in his

experience with forensics, he was clearly beaten with a bat or an object of the sort and that the injuries were caused to cause permanent damage or even death.

The very next day my husband went to file a police report. The police drew a sketch of where he was found and told Steve that there were road works in that location and that

Daniel had the accident there and hit a pole. My husband informed them there were no "road works' there on the day. They repeated the same story.

We have never mentioned the attackers were Thai and they may very well have been foreigners. What we do know for sure is that Daniel is a respected member of the

community. He isn't arrogant or rude, nor does he boast about his achievements and talents. He has been living in Thailand almost 5 years, 2 of them in Ubon where he learnt

to speak Thai. He has high respect for Thais and knows how to conduct himself. He is not on Ya Ba or any such drugs and has nothing to hide. When asked if he owes money

or has been involved with the wrong people, he says "I don't know of anyone who would do this to me, or want to do this to me." Anyone that has had any contact with Daniel

will verify that he is a decent, respectful and talented young man whose only dream is to make it big in the Muay Thai world. He left to go to Ubon at 18 and Muay Thai is his life.

The damage to the rented bike is not consistent with the damage to his face and neck and arm. He had severe bruising on the inside of his wrist of the right hand and the back of both hands. His right

hand was so badly bruised and swollen like a blown up rubber glove, but no grazes. If he hit a pole, how were his hands so badly bruised at the top? How big was this post that he received so much damage in

so many different places of his face and shoulder and hands and wrists?

This appeared as though he put his hands up to protect his face and received blows in these areas. He had multiple breaks, severe breaks to the top and under the nose and face. His eye socket

was smashed to pieces that the surgeon was unable to mend any of the bones. Lost teeth and many loose ones. A clean laceration to the forehead starting from the inside of his right eye to the hair line.

Stitches also above his left eyebrow and bruising to the left side of the face and temple, bruising around the neck and to the back of the neck, internal bleeding in the abdomen area, which may have been received from kicks.

Daniel's body is conditioned to receive blows. He also had bruises to both his hips.

The bike however only received broken review mirrors and the top panel between the handle bars was damaged. Did the bike land on its top without any further scratches or dents?

Maybe he received a phone call to meet someone in that area. We will never know because his phone and wallet are gone.

As for those asking whether he had insurance. Yes of course he has insurance. Health and Accident Insurance. We are all insured. But the insurance was used up to reconstruct his face and mouth.

He was in Vitchera hospital and was kept in the emergency section for 5 days.

Was he wearing a helmet? No he wasn't. His full head helmet was stolen from his bike 2 days prior to the incident.

I hope this lays to rest some of your suspicions. Daniel now needs extensive and on going treatment. I have given up my job to take care of him as he needs assistance with almost everything.

My husband and I take turns looking after him as do my parents and his 17 year old sister. The fund raiser is to help him regain full use of his right arm that is at the moment is paralysed as he

has not a millimeter of movement from the shoulder down, and no sensation whatsoever.

I can understand why and how people can jump to conclusions. However, we have not made these claims lightly. I wish it had been a motorcycle accident, he most certainly may have

received far less injuries. Daniel is of good spirit and remains positive. He is looking forward to a full recovery and says " I will fight with one arm if I have to....but I'd rather use both."

To Deborah,

Thank you for taking the time to come and post here, of what the truth of Daniel's character is.

You have certainly made that very clear in my mind.

If my musings caused you offence in any way, I deeply apologise as well.

I Like many, can only wish Daniel a full and speedy recovery.

As a parent of 3, I can only imagine how you must feel about this.

I also hope whoever committed this cowardly and heinous crime is found, and appropriate justice is served upon him, or them.

I am also hopeful Daniel continues on the sport which he loves, and has been so successful.

Edited June 23, 2012 by ShanePashen

[softgeorge]

Thailand better get its shit together soon or they will be facing empty rooms this coming high season. 60 year old women getting stabbed to death and kickboxers getting bashed in and then collusion by police to cover it up do not bode well with travel agents. Too many other nice places around, peple will take the alternative....

They do have some more pressing issues at the moment, apparently there were some partially exposed breats on "Thailands Got Talent" an issue that could seriously tarnish Thailands image. Serious assaults, murders, rapes and thefts against tourists apparently are secondary as they will not have as a dramatic effect on tourism as bare breasts.

[bangkokheat]

Not a comedy genius i hope he makes a swift and full recovery. But being what you might say a man of the world i would say there are missing pieces to the story. Looks like a hiding and not just a random one by the injuries.

Alright mate, fair play.

Why would a random attack's injuries be less severe than a premediated one? I don't understand that though.

If you'd read what his Mum just said you'd see he'd lived in Thailand for 5 years, spent time at a school in the north, speaks Thai, respected Thais and was respected by them. Hardly the stereotype you appear to have in your head.

It's so easy to just tar someone with a brush before finding out what's what that it seems to be the norm, rather than a rarity these days.

Not to mention the fact that if it was your boy and you loved him and knew he was a good kid who got a totally unwarranted hiding, for no apparent reason, you'd probably be quite upset with people talking ill of your son and making totally unsubstantiated claims based on a few recent negative news stories featuring farang Muay Thai fighters in Thailand.

I find it amazing Deborah found the time and made the effort to let us know certain things. I can't think of any incident like this before. If you read what she says you can see she's being as geniuine as I think it's possible for someone to be.

Still quite stunned at the kind lady's response.

If you speak Thai, well, and find yourself at a loss in any situ; the simple words, "Mai ow pan ha", "Pom pen khun Thai, pom yoo thai sib bee, pom pasa Thai dee, pom mai ow pan ha gap khun krap, khun na krap".... is more than enough to get you out of any shit!!

There is a lingo consequence missing here too, Mrs Deborah. If your son spoke both Esan and Thai he would easily talk his way out of a potentially hot situation. If he was in a hot situ, and a 8 out of 9 winner of Muay Thai in Thailand at aged 22....... hum, was he pissed up?

Easy to call this one on a few thugs for the insurance, after a few serious incidents in the last week, but why didn't you spark up on TV 2 weeks ago? If you are his mother...... no disrespect, but we all know the place is full of weirdos, and you don't have too many regular posts............

Why did you turn to TV today? Plenty of higher profile media to go to, when you are spending your valued time looking after your son. The Sun UK would probably pay 100,000 pounds for the story with a pic....... but you sold out already..... soz about that.

-mel.

its obvious they fused more than your knuckles together

[maidu]

Thanks Deborah, for posting. It's disappointing that the young man has nearly no recollection of what happened. I suspect he was broadsided with a heavy hit to the head. That would explain why he can't recall what happened. After the immobilizing blindside hit, then the subsequent damage could have been pummeling an unresponsive opponent by perpetrators. If he was headed for a crash, he would have remembered the last moments before impact.

Some Thais have a propensity to go postal over things that you and I might not think were near as important. 'Changing gyms / changing alliances / changing coaches - did any of those things happen prior? It's not outlandish to picture his upcoming Muay Thai opponent (or a jealous rival) being a part of the beating - if there was a beating. Thai investigators should do an uncharacteristically thorough investigation. If this was a beating, then it's quite serious and could easily have resulted in death.

[stevenl]

I suppose if you want a medical expert you go to the hospital but if you want to hear just normal people expressing their opinions you go to a public internet forum.

Ah, hospital, where they concluded the injuries were from a bike crash.

[Deborah1966]

Not a comedy genius i hope he makes a swift and full recovery. But being what you might say a man of the world i would say there are missing pieces to the story. Looks like a hiding and not just a random one by the injuries.

Alright mate, fair play.

Why would a random attack's injuries be less severe than a premediated one? I don't understand that though.

If you'd read what his Mum just said you'd see he'd lived in Thailand for 5 years, spent time at a school in the north, speaks Thai, respected Thais and was respected by them. Hardly the stereotype you appear to have in your head.

It's so easy to just tar someone with a brush before finding out what's what that it seems to be the norm, rather than a rarity these days.

Not to mention the fact that if it was your boy and you loved him and knew he was a good kid who got a totally unwarranted hiding, for no apparent reason, you'd probably be quite upset with people talking ill of your son and making totally unsubstantiated claims based on a few recent negative news stories featuring farang Muay Thai fighters in Thailand.

I find it amazing Deborah found the time and made the effort to let us know certain things. I can't think of any incident like this before. If you read what she says you can see she's being as geniuine as I think it's possible for someone to be.

Still quite stunned at the kind lady's response.

If you speak Thai, well, and find yourself at a loss in any situ; the simple words, "Mai ow pan ha", "Pom pen khun Thai, pom yoo thai sib bee, pom pasa Thai dee, pom mai ow pan ha gap khun krap, khun na krap".... is more than enough to get you out of any shit!!

There is a lingo consequence missing here too, Mrs Deborah. If your son spoke both Esan and Thai he would easily talk his way out of a potentially hot situation. If he was in a hot situ, and a 8 out of 9 winner of Muay Thai in Thailand at aged 22....... hum, was he pissed up?

Easy to call this one on a few thugs for the insurance, after a few serious incidents in the last week, but why didn't you spark up on TV 2 weeks ago? If you are his mother...... no disrespect, but we all know the place is full of weirdos, and you don't have too many regular posts............

Why did you turn to TV today? Plenty of higher profile media to go to, when you are spending your valued time looking after your son. The Sun UK would probably pay 100,000 pounds for the story with a pic....... but you sold out already..... soz about that.

-mel.

I am completely lost by your post or your motivation by your post. So I cannot answer your questions. If you read all the articles you would know Daniel was not drunk.

Also I don't want to get caught up in justifying anything to you or anyone else. If you think there are magic words in Thai that will get you out of any situation

you are living in a dream. You have no idea on whether these people were under the influence of drugs or what and you say

if Daniel is an 8 out of 9 Muay Thai fighter ...then what? I think you watch too many Jackie Chan movies. Daniel fights at 60 to 61 kg, while

an extremely skilled fighter he's not a big or physically intimidating presence. In fact as I mentioned earlier, people that meet him are surprised

at what he does and how good he is because of his small stature and polite and gentle demeanor.

As far as publicity goes, we haven't sought anything out. People have come to us and the result and coverage just started from a local news paper article

on his situation. It's tragic that all you see in this situation is scepticism and ulterior motives on our behalf. I told the story for what it was. There are no hidden

agendas what so ever. Come visit Daniel yourself and then make up your mind.

[Soutpeel]

Not a comedy genius i hope he makes a swift and full recovery. But being what you might say a man of the world i would say there are missing pieces to the story. Looks like a hiding and not just a random one by the injuries.

Alright mate, fair play.

Why would a random attack's injuries be less severe than a premediated one? I don't understand that though.

If you'd read what his Mum just said you'd see he'd lived in Thailand for 5 years, spent time at a school in the north, speaks Thai, respected Thais and was respected by them. Hardly the stereotype you appear to have in your head.

It's so easy to just tar someone with a brush before finding out what's what that it seems to be the norm, rather than a rarity these days.

Not to mention the fact that if it was your boy and you loved him and knew he was a good kid who got a totally unwarranted hiding, for no apparent reason, you'd probably be quite upset with people talking ill of your son and making totally unsubstantiated claims based on a few recent negative news stories featuring farang Muay Thai fighters in Thailand.

I find it amazing Deborah found the time and made the effort to let us know certain things. I can't think of any incident like this before. If you read what she says you can see she's being as geniuine as I think it's possible for someone to be.

Still quite stunned at the kind lady's response.

If you speak Thai, well, and find yourself at a loss in any situ; the simple words, "Mai ow pan ha", "Pom pen khun Thai, pom yoo thai sib bee, pom pasa Thai dee, pom mai ow pan ha gap khun krap, khun na krap".... is more than enough to get you out of any shit!!

There is a lingo consequence missing here too, Mrs Deborah. If your son spoke both Esan and Thai he would easily talk his way out of a potentially hot situation. If he was in a hot situ, and a 8 out of 9 winner of Muay Thai in Thailand at aged 22....... hum, was he pissed up?

Easy to call this one on a few thugs for the insurance, after a few serious incidents in the last week, but why didn't you spark up on TV 2 weeks ago? If you are his mother...... no disrespect, but we all know the place is full of weirdos, and you don't have too many regular posts............

Why did you turn to TV today? Plenty of higher profile media to go to, when you are spending your valued time looking after your son. The Sun UK would probably pay 100,000 pounds for the story with a pic....... but you sold out already..... soz about that.

-mel.

I am completely lost by your post or your motivation by your post. So I cannot answer your questions. If you read all the articles you would know Daniel was not drunk.

Also I don't want to get caught up in justifying anything to you or anyone else. If you think there are magic words in Thai that will get you out of any situation

you are living in a dream. You have no idea on whether these people were under the influence of drugs or what and you say

if Daniel is an 8 out of 9 Muay Thai fighter ...then what? I think you watch too many Jackie Chan movies. Daniel fights at 60 to 61 kg, while

an extremely skilled fighter he's not a big or physically intimidating presence. In fact as I mentioned earlier, people that meet him are surprised

at what he does and how good he is because of his small stature and polite and gentle demeanor.

As far as publicity goes, we haven't sought anything out. People have come to us and the result and coverage just started from a local news paper article

on his situation. It's tragic that all you see in this situation is scepticism and ulterior motives on our behalf. I told the story for what it was. There are no hidden

agendas what so ever. Come visit Daniel yourself and then make up your mind.

Deborah

I am really sorry about what your family is going through right now and I sure some of the comments being made on TV are not making things any easier.

The one thing you have to understand is that there are some really sad indivduals on TV who get off on conspiracy theories, making thing up as they go along etc etc as you have seen....please just ignore the sad old b*sards, amataur forensic "experts" who have been watching too much CSI and the detective wannabee's. The best thing to do is just ignore them

One hopes your son recovers fully

all the best

Soutie

Edited June 23, 2012 by Soutpeel

[softgeorge]

Personally I think I would believe the word of a qualified medical practioner, a person who obviously has experience in road trauma and the human anatomy over someone who pays 350K baht to get a job in the BIB. I don't know what the teach them in the Academy but i'm pretty sure they do not come out with medical degrees. They can't even basically cordon off an accident or crime scene.

[bangkokheat]

Not a comedy genius i hope he makes a swift and full recovery. But being what you might say a man of the world i would say there are missing pieces to the story. Looks like a hiding and not just a random one by the injuries.

Alright mate, fair play.

Why would a random attack's injuries be less severe than a premediated one? I don't understand that though.

If you'd read what his Mum just said you'd see he'd lived in Thailand for 5 years, spent time at a school in the north, speaks Thai, respected Thais and was respected by them. Hardly the stereotype you appear to have in your head.

It's so easy to just tar someone with a brush before finding out what's what that it seems to be the norm, rather than a rarity these days.

Not to mention the fact that if it was your boy and you loved him and knew he was a good kid who got a totally unwarranted hiding, for no apparent reason, you'd probably be quite upset with people talking ill of your son and making totally unsubstantiated claims based on a few recent negative news stories featuring farang Muay Thai fighters in Thailand.

I find it amazing Deborah found the time and made the effort to let us know certain things. I can't think of any incident like this before. If you read what she says you can see she's being as geniuine as I think it's possible for someone to be.

Still quite stunned at the kind lady's response.

If you speak Thai, well, and find yourself at a loss in any situ; the simple words, "Mai ow pan ha", "Pom pen khun Thai, pom yoo thai sib bee, pom pasa Thai dee, pom mai ow pan ha gap khun krap, khun na krap".... is more than enough to get you out of any shit!!

There is a lingo consequence missing here too, Mrs Deborah. If your son spoke both Esan and Thai he would easily talk his way out of a potentially hot situation. If he was in a hot situ, and a 8 out of 9 winner of Muay Thai in Thailand at aged 22....... hum, was he pissed up?

Easy to call this one on a few thugs for the insurance, after a few serious incidents in the last week, but why didn't you spark up on TV 2 weeks ago? If you are his mother...... no disrespect, but we all know the place is full of weirdos, and you don't have too many regular posts............

Why did you turn to TV today? Plenty of higher profile media to go to, when you are spending your valued time looking after your son. The Sun UK would probably pay 100,000 pounds for the story with a pic....... but you sold out already..... soz about that.

-mel.

I am completely lost by your post or your motivation by your post. So I cannot answer your questions. If you read all the articles you would know Daniel was not drunk.

Also I don't want to get caught up in justifying anything to you or anyone else. If you think there are magic words in Thai that will get you out of any situation

you are living in a dream. You have no idea on whether these people were under the influence of drugs or what and you say

if Daniel is an 8 out of 9 Muay Thai fighter ...then what? I think you watch too many Jackie Chan movies. Daniel fights at 60 to 61 kg, while

an extremely skilled fighter he's not a big or physically intimidating presence. In fact as I mentioned earlier, people that meet him are surprised

at what he does and how good he is because of his small stature and polite and gentle demeanor.

As far as publicity goes, we haven't sought anything out. People have come to us and the result and coverage just started from a local news paper article

on his situation. It's tragic that all you see in this situation is scepticism and ulterior motives on our behalf. I told the story for what it was. There are no hidden

agendas what so ever. Come visit Daniel yourself and then make up your mind.

I can understand your frustration to insensitive and maligned posts Deborah, as difficult as it may be, try not take these posts too personal, some people enjoy the right to exercise their insensitivity and stupidity while failing to impress.

I have always had an issue with injustice, I still find it very difficult to deal with. Hope Daniel is recovering well

[Jessi]

Not a comedy genius i hope he makes a swift and full recovery. But being what you might say a man of the world i would say there are missing pieces to the story. Looks like a hiding and not just a random one by the injuries.

a HIDING?

I was baseball batted 7 years ago, left with my nose by my ear, jaw by the other, all for a Nokia N95 in Liverpool.

That was a hiding.

I went to China to learn to fight Shaolin. Stayed there for 3 years. They deliberately broke every knuckle and wrist of mine, to make them fuse.

Yes, it was callous. But in a hard fight they cannot possibly break now, but it knackered up my guitar playing, and I was garde 8 classical at aged 14.

At age 22, no matter what training for 5 years, as mum says, was this guy able to defend a group.

But at this moment there is no mention of a group fight, and no witnesses. He wakes and says he didn't crash the bike. So he must have had a memory of the moment before he didn't crash the bike, surely?

Now if this guy is a 3rd Champion of Oz in kickboxing, in my experience we would have been easily able to handle 2 or 3 even if 1 came from behind.

My baseball knockout came from behind in Liverpool, but it didn't split my skull, and I am unscarred.

They kicked me to hell when I was out, but simply my jaw and nose were moved.

The scar I SAW on the photographic links clearly showed a large headline forhead split..... corresponding to frontal head impact, and I am no doctor, but I am an expert in car design and passenger crash.

A baseball bat, of fist, or foot would not cause such a lengthy scar, as the pictures reveal to me a head impact at speed with a large object.

If he was downed, then continually attacked then the zones of head impact would not be as extensive in length as the hospital pictures showed.

My extensive experience in automotive and cycle impacts, without restraints, indicate that he hit a large barrier of a kind.

No disrespect, Deborah, but I am also viewing from a secondary opinion.

I believe he did crash his bike, and was not assaulted and left to die by Thais.

-mel.

feel free to PM me on my expertise in crash analysis. I can re-construct with CAE the environment, given relevant details.

I dont know how to put this in a nice way......But IMO you are full of crap.

[yummypizza]

Not forgetting that organized illegal fighting goes on behind the scenes,where no gloves or rules apply, it's a challenge to any young fighter to fight in one of these backyard tournaments, just a thought,judging by the injuries, considering i learned a hard lesson many years ago in Patpong.

[bangkokheat]

Personally I think I would believe the word of a qualified medical practioner, a person who obviously has experience in road trauma and the human anatomy over someone who pays 350K baht to get a job in the BIB. I don't know what the teach them in the Academy but i'm pretty sure they do not come out with medical degrees. They can't even basically cordon off an accident or crime scene.

I understand what your saying but surely you would be referring to a western medical prctitioners for example, here they cant even be trusted to do autopsies.

[Yunla]

My name is Deborah and I am Daniel's mum. I have read many of the posts regarding this incident and thought it would be fair to clear up some things.

Firstly Daniel was with a friend and they went to Laguna Bar in Rawai. Daniel wanted to go out because he was starting a heavy regime of training as he was preparing for a title fight in Malaysia early July.

Daniel is a high profile fighter and ranks 3rd in the Australian International Kickboxer ratings. Also known as the best foreigner fighter in his weight division in Phuket.

His training is very stringent and his commitment to this title fight was all he talked about.

On June 7, Daniel went with his friend to Laguna Bar and then left his friend at 12:30am (June 8) to collect another friend from Shanti Lodge. When he got there the friend wasn't there

so as far as Daniel recollects he headed back to Laguna Bar to reconnect with Alex. However, for whatever reason, Daniel detoured

and said he remembers an unmanned gas tank and thinks he may have stopped to fill the rented bike with petrol. His bike was broken down at our house and he rented a bike

to get around that afternoon.

Daniel never made it back to his friend Alex, but instead was found in Soi Saiyuan. The ambulance was called at 2:05 am.

We spoke to the hospital via an interpreter and we were told that Daniel may have hit a road hump or pot hole and had an accident.

The following day I had 2 people go into the area to look for any hazards that may have caused him to have this accident. I know the road as well as Daniel

to know there were no speed humps there, but maybe an unforeseen pot hole. The 2 men investigated the road up and down and reported there were

no pot holes or hazards at the site of the "accident".

When I saw Daniel laying in hospital I was just glad he was alive and with no evidence of brain damage. But I later thought about the absence of grazing

and skin tears to his arms and face. He was wearing thick jeans, and I thought he may have been wearing his leather jacket as he usually does at night on the bike.

However his friend informed me that Daniel was only wearing a black polo shirt that night.

People that came to visit him brought to our attention that in their opinion Daniel did not have a motorcycle accident and that we needed to investigate this further.

Later that week our doctor who was caring for him at home approached me and asked me if I had considered that Daniel's injuries were not due to a motorcycle accident. That in his

experience with forensics, he was clearly beaten with a bat or an object of the sort and that the injuries were caused to cause permanent damage or even death.

The very next day my husband went to file a police report. The police drew a sketch of where he was found and told Steve that there were road works in that location and that

Daniel had the accident there and hit a pole. My husband informed them there were no "road works' there on the day. They repeated the same story.

We have never mentioned the attackers were Thai and they may very well have been foreigners. What we do know for sure is that Daniel is a respected member of the

community. He isn't arrogant or rude, nor does he boast about his achievements and talents. He has been living in Thailand almost 5 years, 2 of them in Ubon where he learnt

to speak Thai. He has high respect for Thais and knows how to conduct himself. He is not on Ya Ba or any such drugs and has nothing to hide. When asked if he owes money

or has been involved with the wrong people, he says "I don't know of anyone who would do this to me, or want to do this to me." Anyone that has had any contact with Daniel

will verify that he is a decent, respectful and talented young man whose only dream is to make it big in the Muay Thai world. He left to go to Ubon at 18 and Muay Thai is his life.

The damage to the rented bike is not consistent with the damage to his face and neck and arm. He had severe bruising on the inside of his wrist of the right hand and the back of both hands. His right

hand was so badly bruised and swollen like a blown up rubber glove, but no grazes. If he hit a pole, how were his hands so badly bruised at the top? How big was this post that he received so much damage in

so many different places of his face and shoulder and hands and wrists?

This appeared as though he put his hands up to protect his face and received blows in these areas. He had multiple breaks, severe breaks to the top and under the nose and face. His eye socket

was smashed to pieces that the surgeon was unable to mend any of the bones. Lost teeth and many loose ones. A clean laceration to the forehead starting from the inside of his right eye to the hair line.

Stitches also above his left eyebrow and bruising to the left side of the face and temple, bruising around the neck and to the back of the neck, internal bleeding in the abdomen area, which may have been received from kicks.

Daniel's body is conditioned to receive blows. He also had bruises to both his hips.

The bike however only received broken review mirrors and the top panel between the handle bars was damaged. Did the bike land on its top without any further scratches or dents?

Maybe he received a phone call to meet someone in that area. We will never know because his phone and wallet are gone.

As for those asking whether he had insurance. Yes of course he has insurance. Health and Accident Insurance. We are all insured. But the insurance was used up to reconstruct his face and mouth.

He was in Vitchera hospital and was kept in the emergency section for 5 days.

Was he wearing a helmet? No he wasn't. His full head helmet was stolen from his bike 2 days prior to the incident.

I hope this lays to rest some of your suspicions. Daniel now needs extensive and on going treatment. I have given up my job to take care of him as he needs assistance with almost everything.

My husband and I take turns looking after him as do my parents and his 17 year old sister. The fund raiser is to help him regain full use of his right arm that is at the moment is paralysed as he

has not a millimeter of movement from the shoulder down, and no sensation whatsoever.

I can understand why and how people can jump to conclusions. However, we have not made these claims lightly. I wish it had been a motorcycle accident, he most certainly may have

received far less injuries. Daniel is of good spirit and remains positive. He is looking forward to a full recovery and says " I will fight with one arm if I have to....but I'd rather use both."

Deborah1966, thankyou for your very informative and genuinely heartwarming posts. It has changed some of my opinions regarding on how the fight happened, to know he is a good person and not by nature rowdy. I'm sure you and Daniel are tough enough to come through this terrible attack and start over again in perhaps new directions. In life, sometimes change can be for the best.

Once again I hope your son has a speedy recovery both physically and emotionally and thankyou for your informative input on this site.

Edited June 23, 2012 by Yunla

[softgeorge]

Not forgetting that organized illegal fighting goes on behind the scenes,where no gloves or rules apply, it's a challenge to any young fighter to fight in one of these backyard tournaments, just a thought,judging by the injuries, considering i learned a hard lesson many years ago in Patpong.

So what exactly are you saying about this young man? He had a major title fight comming up so why would he get involved in some backyard stuff? He is a proffessional not an amature.