A foreign girl last year had the experience of getting a taxi ride home, the taxi driver took the highway, then faked a breakdown, told her to wait on the other side of the concrete barrier as it was safer, then asked to borrow her i-phone as his had no credit. You can probably guess what happened next, he drove off and surprise surprise, the police didn't hardly show a blind bit of notice, 4 hours in the police station, waiting for them to have breakfast and get round to the paper work.

I suppose they thought she was lucky not to have been raped as she is very pretty.

Unlike the poor foreign girl in Samui a few years ago, violently raped by a taxi driver, what happened to him, caught but never charged. His brother was a policeman.

Justice in Thailand is not fairly metted out because the people who are trusted to uphold it are incompetent, indifferent and partial to banknotes.

Except for a few good men I have nothing but disdain for Thai police.

There is difference in severity for theft crimes according to the time of day? Seriously this has got to have been made up to extort more money no?

No, in the Criminal Code, Section 335 it refers to theft at night that carries a heavier sentence.

where does an 18-year old get the money to go on the p&%s in Thailand? When I was 18 my paper round money wouldn't buy me a bus ticket to the airport.....

You were fortunate, we had pony and traps, Our buses were war time utility vehicles.

These incidents reflect badly on all foreigners visiting Thailand, even though it is an individual committing the crime, on a subconscious level in the Thai public mind these crimes tarnish the image of all visitors. We are honoured guests, and as guests should behave properly and maintain high personal standards regardless of how the local corruption situation may be.

Shameful.

Of course I agree that we should behave properly as guests in this country and to pay the penalty if we don't. However, this story is typical of the gross double standards applying in this country. A young, drunk, stupid foreigner nicks a phone and behaves badly....thrown in jail and left out of contact with those who are looking for him, fearing the worst. A Thai robs, bashes, scams, threatens, stabs (whatever) a foreigner and they are out on bail in Olympic split second timing ( or never charged at all) . Scandalous and disgraceful double standards in the land of scams

A Thai robs, bashes, scams, threatens, stabs (whatever) a foreigner and they are out on bail in Olympic split second timing ( or never charged at all) . Scandalous and disgraceful double standards in the land of scams

And once again, if they're all "out on bail" ... or "never charged at all" ... who are all those people filling the prisons to over-capacity? Yes, some people who are rich or have powerful families do get away with a form of "justice" not available to everyone, and that double standard exists in every country, but there are a whole lot of Thai people sitting in jail who never got bail, nor did they "walk."

The double standard is the reporting here and the reaction of some Thai Visa posters. Most 18 year old Thais arrested are never reported anywhere, let alone on TV, so one wonders at how you assembled your double standard "facts." And the number of 18 year old farang cretins who go on to serve the full term of the sentence they might receive compared to their Thai counterparts is almost certainly minuscule (if you can manufacture "facts" so can I).

This kid will probably have to apologize, pay some restitution, get away with a light sentence and be whisked away by mommy & daddy to a warm reception as a hero by his fellow teenage misfits back in the country that produced him.

Why is an Aussie wearing a Penn State shirt?

Silly young sod - perhaps he'll have learned something from the experience.

These incidents reflect badly on all foreigners visiting Thailand, even though it is an individual committing the crime, on a subconscious level in the Thai public mind these crimes tarnish the image of all visitors. We are honoured guests, and as guests should behave properly and maintain high personal standards regardless of how the local corruption situation may be.

Shameful.

guests????!!! complete rubbish you are either a tourist or an expat, But always a customer and always a farang!

Because otherwise, if this country want to behave like a good host, so they should not scam, cheat, beat, rip off, etc etc etc etc their guests

Steal a phone and being a foreigner, straight to jail. Being a spoilt brat, kill a policeman whilst high and drunk…go to Singapore for an extended holiday…TIT

The subject of Bail is a cause of much confusion here in Thailand and indeed in much of the world.

In order to grant bail a judge is normally simply concerned with the likelihood that that the alleged offender will show up for future hearings and will not interfere with witness etc..

In Thailand, as in the west, there is general rule of "presumption of bail", which generally means that bail is granted unless there is a good reason not to do so.

Foreigners are high risk as far as bail is concerned, not just in Thailand but the world over. So OF COURSE foreigners can find it harder to get bail, they are a higher risk.

With regards to the young man in this case, I do feel sorry for him. He will be out as soon as bail is paid and I doubt he will spend another day in jail in Thailand as it will probably be dealt with by way of a stiff fine, and he has learned a valuable lesson.

We all do stupid things when we are 18. I know I did.

Steal a phone and being a foreigner, straight to jail. Being a spoilt brat, kill a policeman whilst high and drunk…go to Singapore for an extended holiday…TIT

He did not go straight to jail, was offered bond but couldn' pay

he's lucky the taxi driver hadn't drank his M150 yet

So unlike his mate, he may well be celebrating his 21st Birthday with his new cellmates. What a numpty!

Yes...What he did was wrong and needs punishment, but if he was drunk a lawyer may help him to not get into jail. I hope so. A foreign teenager in a Thai jail?...That can be the worst punishment somebody can get for stealing a cell phone....First...He will be raped for sure...

....I have never heard of a Thai getting 5 years for stealing....ANYTHING......

It's lucky twilight is so brief in the tropics otherwise cops would have to carry light meters.

Does not look like a KIWI

Actually a lot of you, ignore how its work here!

So here certainly what did happened : The foreigner for his petty crime was asked a tea-money, certainly few dozens thousands baht.

He did refused and then was thrown in a redemand prison while pending investigation. Police can hold you there up to 84 days before

pressing charge.... For the thai crooks its a good way to pressure you to pay the tea money. Otherwise they will not release you!

Usually after a few day of this treatment, foreigner give up and pay whatever police want.

In thailand as a foreigner, they can cheat you, rob you, steal you, beat you, stab you etc etc and nothing will be done

but as a foreigner for any petty offenses, they will extort you as much as they can... truelly disgusting!

The perp was stupid to resist arrest. Otherwise, he could have settled out of court with the taxi driver (10,000 Bht to drop charges).

As it is, he probably hit some bobbies, so there could be assault charges too.

How do you know about the assault, wouldn't that have been reported if it happened anywhere but your imagination?

silly boy but we were all young once... send him home - slap on wrist and ban for ten years coming here should be enough (hopefully)

But not all of us were obstreperous drunken thieves.

Had he not been a westerner/tourist, he wouldnt be treated like a Soi Dog

At every turn, Thailand shames itself again!

I must be missing something here: the kid stole and resisted arrest and it is Thailand that shames itself? How is that? In other countries, including so-called democracies, people have gotten shot trying to resist arrest.

But of course let's not get facts in the way of some Thai-bashing.

The perp was stupid to resist arrest. Otherwise, he could have settled out of court with the taxi driver (10,000 Bht to drop charges).

As it is, he probably hit some bobbies, so there could be assault charges too.

How do you know about the assault, wouldn't that have been reported if it happened anywhere but your imagination?

What would you think -resisting arrest would mean assault, if the bib wanted to press charges, not imagination or do you think the bib would not pull that one ??

Another member of "Future Nuts of the World". Look for bigger things in the future from this guy.

All OK, no way he will get 5 years, and these reporters always publish the maximum penalties,

here is the new zealand penalties, and if it was a top end phone he might have up for 7 years in new zealand,

which reminds me i was reading in the new zealand paper a few days ago of a kiwi that got 2 years in NZ

for selling and supplying 7 ounces of marijuana..........there was previous..

223 Punishment of theft

Every one who commits theft is liable as follows:

(a) in the case of any offence against section 220, to imprisonment for
a term not exceeding 7 years; or

( if the value of the property stolen exceeds $1,000, to imprisonment
for a term not exceeding 7 years; or

© if the value of the property stolen exceeds $500 but does not exceed
$1,000, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 year; or

(d) if the value of the property stolen does not exceed $500, to

imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months.

but we all know the courts are lenient...

in saudi he would be left riding his pushbike ' no hands' for the rest of his life.

harsh but works

Headline from http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/tag/thailand/

Another feral ratbag cops one sweet

What is it with ferals?

Check out this outstanding example of thinking you can act like you would in NZ and get away with.

Apparently he’s a good boy and doesn’t deserve to be sitting in a Thai jail facing 5 years in prison.

Act like a dumb-ass overseas – take the consequences.

We should have this kind of deterrence here.

Not that I condone idiocy, but a drunken 18-year old stole a phone...and gave it back!

That lands him in jail?!

God, I am so happy I haven't seen far worse crimes here, that went unpunished!(# redbull)

You condone theft? Or just certain degrees of theft? He only gave it back because he was caught!

He doesn't have to be in jail, he was offered bail.

The other case that you refer to isn't closed so the accused has not gone unpunished, yet.

I have always maintained that instead of clogging the courts with this sort of antisocial crap, a short sharp shock is appropriate, Singapore style, a serious caning, or birching or similar, and off you go home, job done. If you wanna do it again, have a look at your arse in the mirror.

He gave the phone back like that's gonna make it all better. It's like robbing a bank and then giving the money back - hey, no harm no foul. I also love how the media always paints these teen fwits as victims : shame the prison must be terrible; hes got a job and works really hard - obviously not hard enough if he decided to steal a phone in Thailand. Thieves make my blood boil-the lowest form of respect and highest form of laziness. Somnamna

Sent from my GT-S7270 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

In the good old days of common law, one could, having made one's mistake, apologise to the offended and return the goods.

The offended, could choose to prosecute further for stress or damages, or merely forgive the offence. A mobile phone? Drunk? Stupid? From New Zealand? Intellectually impaired?

I'd forgive him.

Get a grip. He is 18 and did a silly thing. Was probably a 600baht phone. Of course he needs to cop a penalty but no need cut off his hands of nackers. We have all made mistakes and bad choices. Cut some slack and get of your high horses

I have always maintained that instead of clogging the courts with this sort of antisocial crap, a short sharp shock is appropriate, Singapore style, a serious caning, or birching or similar, and off you go home, job done. If you wanna do it again, have a look at your arse in the mirror.

. . . .and further to that, the option of wielding the cane should be offered to the taxi driver.

Too bad he is not a politician, they break the law constantly and nobody cares.

His parents will be on some Current Affairs show crying and saying what a good kid he is and that he's never done wrong.

Some NZ Government Official will make comment that they are flying to Bangkok to discuss with Authorities tomorrow.

His Brother will fly over and visit him in the cells and tell us how horrid the conditions are and that "it's so unjust, eh?"

The Kid will pay a fine of 10,000 baht, wai the taxi driver in front of TV cameras, get out in a few days, fly straight home to a hero's welcome and all will be right with the world.

He will go on to steal a car by Xmas, get caught, go to Auckland prison and wonder where it all went wrong.

It's just a natural process. Let it happen.

From the photo he looks like a young punk and thug, all dressed up in his street gangsta wear. It would surprise me if this guy had done this before, but in a country like NZ he is unlikely to face any severe consequences. Now he can try to act all tough and gangsta in a thai prison.