Australian Girl Shot In The Neck

[sbk]

No. Rumor has it.

[Boo]

Sadly, the word going round Kan is that the girl has died today. However can't find anyone who knows for sure!

The girl was drinking in a very small bar and according to rumours was being very loud the previous night, presumably drunk, and was winding up two Thai guys. The next night she received her "visit" in the same bar, which is to be brutally honest a bit of a sh1thole!

A lot of rumours running round as you can imagine, I'm trying to get further details.

Another sad day in our little town!

Seems your information is way off mark. Please try to keep info accurate, this girl has enough tragedy without unfounded rumours stirring up shit for her. All news source have specified a bar fued, untill they report different I am going with that. Can everyone try to stick to the facts as reported, this case is too sad to allow specualtion & rumour to take over.

[Backpack_thailand]

Sadly, the word going round Kan is that the girl has died today. However can't find anyone who knows for sure!

The girl was drinking in a very small bar and according to rumours was being very loud the previous night, presumably drunk, and was winding up two Thai guys. The next night she received her "visit" in the same bar, which is to be brutally honest a bit of a sh1thole!

A lot of rumours running round as you can imagine, I'm trying to get further details.

Another sad day in our little town!

Seems your information is way off mark. Please try to keep info accurate, this girl has enough tragedy without unfounded rumours stirring up shit for her. All news source have specified a bar fued, untill they report different I am going with that. Can everyone try to stick to the facts as reported, this case is too sad to allow specualtion & rumour to take over.

Absolutely Boo, agree 100%. It's far too easy to listen to rumour and hearsay.

The facts as we know them are;

The bar is owned by a British expat, in truth a bit of an idiot and is generally the sort of place where other expats sit and moan about everything. Never been there myself but go past it regularly. It's a tiny "shopfront" type of place.

The local police are looking for two Thai guys in their 20's who allegedly were the shooters. They drove passed the front of the bar on a motorbike, stopped, shot and then took off. The two have allegedly been identified.

All the rest of the stories are just rumour. The authorities here are embarrassed as things seemed to have just started to "normalize" after the Somchai episode.

My own personal opinion is that in the last couple of years several expats have moved to Kan from other parts of Thailand, bringing with them the attitudes from other, more developed tourist areas.

- Limbo Dancers & Chelsea Footballers -

Get my drift...??? (Duckers & Divers!)

If it continues I sahll be looking elsewhere to live as I personally don't like the type of people that are moving here!

[Boo]

Thanks Backpack, that wasn't a "dig" at you just a request to keep as close to fact as possible. Kan has had some really bad press lately esp after the back pack murders last year, it's just sad that 2 high profile tourist attacks have happened in the last 2 years Stay safe & keep out of trouble.

[lung]

a british owner ???

SHE may have a farang-boyfriend ,but he not in kan.

it's one of the "new" bar's in the corner of apple-guesthouse. (pattaya-style)

about 10 there... and 2 are "farang" -owned.

bar is still open,more police go pass and still not find the boy's.

BACKPACK > greets to "scotty"

Edited June 21, 2006 by lung

[stumonster]

Aussie nurse shooting arrest 'soon'

By Ron Corben and Ian Black in Bangkok

June 21, 2006

THAI police are confident of an arrest in the drive-by shooting of an Australian nurse, with a sketch of the gunman complete and tests under way on bullets found at the scene.

Thai police spokesman Lieutenant General Ajirasvid Subarnbhesaj said a sketch of the gunman was complete, and forensic tests were underway on bullets found at the bar.

Police are also working to match transport department records with the number plate of the motorcycle used in the drive-by attack.

"Yes," Gen. Ajiravid said when asked if police were confident of an arrest soon.

He said investigations are focused on juvenile gangs in Kanchanaburi, 130km west of Bangkok, that have been in conflict with the owner of the UP2U bar and restaurant where the Brisbane nurse was shot by a gunman riding pillion on a Honda motorbike.

full story here

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...76-1702,00.html

[Backpack_thailand]

BACKPACK > greets to "scotty"

Whose "scotty"???

[lung]

BACKPACK > greets to "scotty"

Whose "scotty"???

"scottish"? and not on the river...?

[Backpack_thailand]

"scottish"? and not on the river...?

Gotcha!

Mr. 9999 is doing well, had a beer with him the other day.

Edited June 21, 2006 by Backpack_thailand

[sriracha john]

'Bored Thai teens' may be behind shooting

A YOUNG Brisbane nurse fighting for her life in a Bangkok hospital may have been the latest victim in a spate of shootings by drunken Thai teenagers that has left five people dead this year.

Thai police investigating the shooting of Springwood woman Pam Fitzpatrick, 26, said yesterday the shooting in the Thai tourist town of Kanchanaburi may have been a random act of violence committed by bored teenagers to show off.

Ms Fitzpatrick was gunned down in a tourist bar by unknown assailants riding a motorcycle on Monday.

She is now in a coma and on a life-support system. It is believed that if she survives she will be left a quadraplegic.

Yesterday her father, Kevin Fitzpatrick, said that his daughter remained in a critical condition.Mr Fitzpatrick flew from Brisbane to Bangkok on Tuesday night. Ms Fitzpatrick's sister, Jenny, who was with her at the time of the shooting, and her brother, are also at her bedside.

"There is a bullet lodged in her spinal column," Mr Fitzpatrick said.

Australian Ambassador to Thailand William Patterson described the incident as deeply sad.

While the family yesterday tried to come to terms with the tragedy Thailand's national police chief ordered police in Kanchanaburi to leave no stone unturned in solving the case.

The incident has shed an unwelcome spotlight on the region's violent underbelly, and fears are held that it will deter Australian tourists from visiting one of Thailand's most popular tourist destinations, the site of the World War II Burma railway and bridge over the River Kwai.

Yesterday, chief of the investigation in Kanchanaburi, Police Colonel Vorapat Vadhanavisala, said all 10 officers in the area had been assigned to the case and reinforcements were expected to arrive this week. He said police had several leads they were pursuing.

Kanchanaburi has been rocked this year by a series of drive-by shootings on local bars. Since January more than 10 bars have been shot up, and five people have died, all of them Thai, the colonel said.

"The majority of the attacks are done by teenagers," he said. "These teenagers get loaded with alcohol and then think it is fun to go around and shoot people. They do it to show off."

However, police have not ruled out the possibility that the attack may have been organised by a competitor to scare customers away from the bar in which Ms Fitzpatrick was drinking.

"A person can be hired to shoot up a bar for the price of a drink in Kanchanaburi," the colonel said. "It is not unusual."

- news.com.au

[Scott]

Well that has cured me. I'm not sitting at anymore "open air" bars. I think I'll stay behind a wall!

[taxexile]

"A person can be hired to shoot up a bar for the price of a drink in Kanchanaburi," the colonel said. "It is not unusual."

you can just imagine him shrugging his shoulders as he is saying it as if it has nothing to do with him , a police colonel in charge of a unit of police in a town that is plagued by a gang of drive by drunks with guns blazing.

if the police were a little more pro active with regard to deterring crime then events such as these would be unusual.

and if citizens could have even an iota of awareness and moral responsibility instilled into the little bubbles they all live in with regard to what goes on around them instead of closing their eyes to everything as if it does not directly concern them then maybe....................oh , whats the point of even writing about it , it will never happen.

this is thailand , the hub of "initiative ? you wont find any round here mate !"

[stumonster]

Shot nurse dies of injuries

By Andrew Perrin of The Courier-Mail in Thailand

June 22, 2006

BRISBANE nurse Pam Fitzpatrick has died of injuries received in a drive-by shooting in Thailand.

The Springwood woman was shot on Monday by unknown assailants as she and her sister sat in a tourist bar.

A statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to The Courier-Mail today said that DFAT "regret to confirm Pam Fitzpatrick passed away on the 21st of June as a result of injuries sustained in a shooting incident on the 19th of June".

The statement said consular officers in Bangkok were providing support to the Fitzpatrick family.

"Thai police are investigating the shooting incident", the statement said.

It said the Australian ambasador in Bangkok, William Patterson, had spoken with senior Thai police to register the Australian Government's strong interest in the investigation.

DFAT said the Fitzpatrick family had requested their privacy be respected.

full story here

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...82-1702,00.html

[udon]

ABC news radio just announced that the lass has died.

RIP Pam Fitzpatrick

Edited June 22, 2006 by udon

[chuchok]

ABC news radio just announced that the lass has died.

RIP Pam Fitzpatrick

[Backpack_thailand]

ABC news radio just announced that the lass has died.

Very, very sad indeed!

Let's see what negative effect this has regards tourism. This is supposed to be the big "Visit Kanchanaburi" 2 year promotion. Maybe they should change their marketing:

"Visit Kanchanaburi", land of magical wonder, natural beauty and little Thai w@ankers with guns all pumped up on drugs/alcohol"

Not good, not good at all! My deepest sympathies to the Fitzpatrick family

Normally I am a proud Kanchanaburian, today I am a Kanchanaburian.

[george]

Australian nurse dies of gunshot wounds

BANGKOK: -- The Australian nurse shot in the back of the neck during a driveby shooting in a Thai bar in Kanchanaburi has died in a Bangkok hospital.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed Pam Fitzpatrick had died of her injuries.

She was shot on Monday as she and her sister sat in a tourist bar in the town of Kanchanaburi, after they had just watched the Australia-Brazil World Cup football match.

"Thai police are investigating the shooting incident", the statement said.

"We were informed that she died at about 10 p.m. Wednesday at Samitivech Hospital," said Kanchanaburi Deputy Police Chief Voraphat Vattanavisarn.

According to Australian media accounts, two men on motorcycles opened fire on a crowd of revellers who had just watched the football match in the bar, hitting Ms Fitzpatrick, apparently at random. Two versions of the shooting have emerged - that the shooters had aimed at the bar owner, or that they were "bored teenagers" randomly shooting up the sometimes violent town.

Thai police believe the assailants, two teenagers on motorcycle, were aiming at the restaurant's owner who was sitting at the counter but shot Fitzpatrick by accident as she stood in the doorway.

The culprits have yet to be identified and Kanchanaburi police have yet to confirm the motive behind the shooting.

"We've questioned the owner and he claimed to have no big enemies although he admitted to arguing with a gang of teenagers he recently kicked out of his restaurant," said Voraphat.

The owner of a rival restaurant is another suspect.

"We're still investigating the case," added the deputy police chief.

Kanchanaburi's reputation as a safe spot has been tarnished by recent attacks on tourists.

Last year, a Kanchanburi court sentenced a local policeman to life imprisonment for murdering a British couple outside another of the town's many riverside restaurants.

Police Sergeant Somchai was convicted of murdering British nationals Adam Lloyd, 25, and Vanessa Arscott, 24, on September 9, 2004.

A Kanchanaburi appeal court on Wednesday turned down Somchai's lawyer's request to appeal the sentence. Somchai's failure to appear in court to make the appeal raised suspicions that the decorated policeman has already been secretly freed, although authorities denied the rumour.

Somchai was found guilty of shooting Lloyd on the night of September 9, 2004, and then running over Arscott with his car as she attempted to escape. He finished Arscott off with his pistol.

Ironically, he had played a key role in solving the rape and brutal murder of an Irish tourist by an errant monk at a hilltop Buddhist temple in Kanchanaburi about a decade ago.

Ms Fitzpatrick's father, Kevin, said his daughter's spinal cord had been damaged in the shooting.

Ms Fitzpatrick had arrived in Thailand at the weekend with her sister, Jenny, and they were visiting Kanchanaburi and the River Kwai tourist attractions.

--Agencies 2006-06-22

[skippy]

A Kanchanaburi appeal court on Wednesday turned down Somchai's lawyer's request to appeal the sentence. Somchai's failure to appear in court to make the appeal raised suspicions that the decorated policeman has already been secretly freed, although authorities denied the rumour.

[sriracha john]

A very sad development.

You gave it all you had, Pam...

Rest peacefully in heaven...

[gharknes]

very sad indeed, shot in the neck with a possible spine injury RIP

as for guns in Thailand, I agree.....ban them with severe prison term if caught in posession, why do people need to carry guns ???????

Edited June 22, 2006 by gharknes

[Phil Conners]

She is dead gharknes.

I would prefer same if i was her, given the alternative of spending the remainder of life in a wheelchair.

Now if only the BiB could make themselves a bit useful and go catch the killers, but I guess that's too much to expect

[pop_corn]

That's really sad.. anyway.. she came here to do voluntary work, and now he's going back dead.. so unfair!!

[sriracha john]

Police close in on nurse's killers

AAP

THAI police say they are closing in on the killers of Australian nurse Pam Fitzpatrick, who died in a Bangkok hospital after being hit in the back of the neck in a drive-by shooting.

Detectives blame teenage thugs they say are behind gun attacks in the town of Kanchanaburi.

Thai police and Australian Embassy officials believe she was the innocent victim of a gang vendetta against the British owner of the Up2U Bar in Kanchanaburi.

Ms Fitzpatrick's father, sister and brother were at her bedside in Bangkok's Samitivej Sukumvit Hospital's intensive case unit, where she died yesterday.

She had been in a coma and on life support with a bullet lodged in her spinal column after Monday's shooting.

In a statement, her grief-stricken family, from Springwood in Brisbane's south, said she had been a "fit, strong, happy, bubbly individual" who had loved life.

Thai police said a sketch of the gunman was complete and forensic tests were being done on bullets found at the bar.

Police are also working to match transport records with the number plate of the motorcycle.

They are confident of a series of quick arrests.

"Our ambassador in Bangkok has spoken with senior Thai police to register the Australian Government's strong interest in the investigation," a Foreign Affairs spokesman said.

Ms Fitzpatrick was treated at a local hospital in Kanchanaburi but then rushed to the Bangkok hospital in a 90-minute ambulance ride.

She was too badly wounded to be evacuated by air to Australia.

Her body will be flown to Brisbane for her funeral, probably next week.

============================================================

Nurse's family mourn their happy, bubbly girl

THE Australian tourist Pam Fitzpatrick died in Thailand yesterday, three days after being gunned down in a drive-by shooting that had nothing to do with her.

Early on Monday, just after the Australia v Brazil soccer match had finished, a Thai patron in the UP2U bar in Kanchanaburi - a town near the famous bridge over the River Kwai - yelled abuse at two young men cruising past on a motorbike, Thai police said.

Five minutes later, they came back and opened fire. Pam Fitzpatrick, her sister Jennifer and two British tourists had just walked into the bar on the popular tourist strip and were sitting at a table close to the front.

Police believe up to four shots were fired randomly into the bar. One hit Ms Fitzpatrick, a 26-year-old nurse from Brisbane, in the back of the neck and lodged in her spine.

"They rode by once and someone in the [bar] yelled at them," said Kanchanaburi's police chief.

He said the word used, "kwuay", translates as penis and is the most offensive form of Thai abuse. "They came back and shot [at] him. They came back quickly, so it's likely they had the gun on them."

Ms Fitzpatrick was taken to a private hospital in Bangkok, where she stayed on life support until she died early yesterday.

Her father, Kevin, had known her prognosis was bleak. In a statement yesterday after she died, her family said: "Pamela was a fit, strong, happy, bubbly individual who enthusiastically lived life to the full.

"She cared deeply for her family and particularly for people with physical disabilities, as exemplified by her nursing of paraplegics and voluntary work with sporting wheelies, and to be struck down like this is a cruel blow to her and everyone she loved and helped.

"Pamela is loved by her family, boyfriend and huge group of friends and will be deeply and sincerely missed by all."

Thai police said a murder investigation was under way and the suspects were two men in their 20s and likely to be natives of Kanchanaburi.

Police had the details of the motorcycle numberplate and expected to lay charges soon.

- smh.com.au

[jdinasia]

Sad news about the girl ... her family will be in my thoughts.

Did we ever get the name of the bar?

[sriracha john]

Up2U Bar in Kanchanaburi

[VTR1000]

Yes, my thoughts are with the family and friends indeed.

Another pointless waste of a young life.

Sad news about the girl ... her family will be in my thoughts.

Did we ever get the name of the bar?

Some peoples reading skills aren't that good!

Edited June 23, 2006 by VTR1000

[leftcross]

He said the word used, "kwuay", translates as penis and is the most offensive form of Thai abuse

doesn't it mean buffalo?

[Scott]

My deepest sympathies to the family and friends.

[Noel]

He said the word used, "kwuay", translates as penis and is the most offensive form of Thai abuse

doesn't it mean buffalo?

Yes it does and it can be used in a derogatory way in terms of someone being stupid.

He more likely meant 'kai'.

Trivia aside, deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Pam Fitzpatrick.

May she RIP.

[kat]

Where did you get the idea it was a dive? According to reports it was a crowded tourist bar and she was watching the World Cup. Certainly an innocent enough pastime for a girl out with her sister.

I think this is one situation where trying to blame the girl for being in the wrong place is entirely misguided.

Anyone who has ever spent any amount of time in Thailand knows that a place does not necessarily have to be a dive in order to make enemies. In fact, anyone who is too successful can find himself (or herself) on the wrong end of a feud simply because the competition feels the best way to deal with it is by shooting the competitor.

This girl was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and it is far too simplistic to say she should have known better.

The girl was drinking in a very small bar and according to rumours was being very loud the previous night, presumably drunk, and was winding up two Thai guys. The next night she received her "visit" in the same bar, which is to be brutally honest a bit of a sh1thole!

So, sbk, do you think perhaps an apology would be in place?

I know that you are one of the 'hatemonger brigade' here, who often posts offensive stuff about Muslims in general, when an opportunity arises to do so.

Ok...sure, there is the freedom of expression here (well regarding almost everything anyway) and you are entitled to express your opinion.

Well, and here I am, using MY freedom of expression to write how 'unhumanistic' you are.

A woman is fighting for her life; her family and friends are in a terrible state; and you are posting such insensitive stuff.

Earlier on, a poster wrote that guns should be banned. I totally agree with him. But I guess, now, the right-wing pro-gun people will come on and say that people should have the 'freedom to own guns', blah blah.

...As the pieces of this story is being assembled, it looks more and more like she was an adventurous women, who went to a place where she probably shouldn't have gone. She wound up some Thai guys - in a way she was probably used to do at home, but isn't a good idea to do here - and in return she was shot.

First of all, your first question was: "what is she doing in Thailand?"

Secondly, we can all register the message that you imply in the above statement, especially when combined with your first question. No big surprise here, when we consider that many elements in Thailand resemble an ever-growing garbage heap.

My condolences the young woman's family, and on another unnecessary death, subject to unnecessary comments by even more unnecessary ...... "people"?