Disabled Scot claims he was battered by Thai prison guards after being left starving and penniless

[poweratradio]

-I do not beleive this story .

First he loses documents, why not contact british embassy???

Beaten by prison guards absolute rubbish.

Ihave spent time in a Thai prison . I was treated with the upmost respect by guards and other inmates.

British embassy contacted the prison, i spoke with man from embassy. He told me of my rights etc, we can contact a Thai lawyer for you, very helpful he was.

So before people speak about how unhelpful the British embassy staff are, think of people in my situation, they helped me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree that there is some serious fabrication in this story from start to finish.

[snowgard]

4.000 Pounds for 6 month staying in Thailand with a girlfriend is not to bad. :-)

 

How much you pay out monthly?

 

But that someone robbed him out listen better for his Mam. But she not send him new money. 555

 

If his brain same a 12 years old Boy him must had a caregiver and not travel alone around with a lot of Money.

 

That him was locked in the policestation and after in prison can be about  resistance. Don't told his name, don't do what the Police/Prison gards told him, started to be very aggressive, ... 

 

For me him looks like this. And this are normal symptoms from brain damaged People: http://www.brainline.org/

[mrfill]

He left Scotland in November, presumably with a 3 month tourist visa. By the end of February he would have been on overstay by a few days. By the middle of June it would have been a few months overstay, not the 10 days claimed. Bearing in mind he did not contact the airline, his mother, immigration, the British Consul or anyone else, it is extremely doubtful he would have sorted out his visa so his overstay is more likely to be in the region of 4 months rather than 10 days. If he arrived and got a visa exemption, he would have been overstayed by 6 months. The irresponsibility shown by his mother is amazing.

[harrry]

 

In the UK he is an independant person and consequently can go of his own accord.  Who is to stop him.

 

 

Harry  

 

If he is mentally challenged then he can be deemed a dependent person and put under his mothers care.

 

That being said if he was dead set on coming here to meet his online love it would have made more sense for a friend or family member to accompany him and act as a voice or reason.  Again his choice as to what he does but just like anyone of us it is sometimes nice to have a voice you trust tell you that you need to think twice.

 

If it is the case that he got screwed by a smart Thai be-atch then I hope they find out who she is and put her in jail.

 

Yes....if the court and medical authorities deem him to be.

[Clutch]

I'm reading this story putting 2 and 2 together and keep coming up with 5.

[hawthorne]

Very smelly story. Nothing but the facts...oops all given by a manchild who needs supervision. He may justt have a very large imagination as other 12 year old minded individuals have when they get into trouble. Good he he is back home and hopefully he can get some of that free socialized medicine.

[Tony125]

Best for immigration to stamp his Passport "Persona Non Grata" so he can't return to Thailand again and have something happen to him since it seems he  does npot have the capacity to take care of himself.

[petercool]

off topic posts removed

[Grindting]

UK needs to have a look at it's disability benefits scheme if people can afford to jet off to distant lands for extended periods ........ at the tax payers expense? (comments modified by moderator)

Unless of course the whole story is .......

[DogNo1]

I worked for some years as a nurse's aide at a psychiatric hospital on the 3:00 -11:00 shift while I was in college. Patients with low IQs and emotional problems were certainly frustrating to work with and sometimes willfully caused problems but they were helped through patience and sympathy. Scathing criticism and negative attitudes made them worse and for some, negativity and abuse played a part in causing their conditions.
I imagine that there are plenty of details about the disabled Scot that we don't know but there's no need to set on him like a pack of wolves. Whatever his mistakes and shortcomings, we would do well to wish him the best.

[MarkCyr]

Sorry, I don't believe a word of the guy's story. Definitely not on the beatings in jail. And as for the "I lost my plane ticket." What is this, 1985? Nobody has physical plane tickets now. You just go to the airport. As for the mental age of 12...he has the make-up-BS-story capacity of a 12 year old, true enough. But if he's been living in LOS that many years off and on, he knows!

 

Having said that, I DO feel a bit of sympathy for guys like him. He is yet another walking (rolling?) ATM in Pattaya who is at even more of a mental disadvantage than most for this stuff (I've known PhD types who have lost everything in Thailand, so IQ is not a factor here). But maybe this is one positive point in support of the new, tougher overstay laws -- people will be forced out before they lose everything. 

[iamariva1957]

I have to say that I feel very sorry for this guy. It is beyond my understanding why in Hell the Thai Police would throw this guy into jail simply for a 10-day overstay. Alright so he has a paralysis down on his left side (or so we are being told... though I have no reason to dis-believe that) and that might have made him seem 'strange', as if he was resisting, drunk, or just aggressive in the eyes of the cops. But no matter... the actions being reported should not be allowed.

 

However, there are issues that I have with this story. Air tickets in their printed form are not required to travel these days. The booking/s are all electronically stored and therefore are always available. Second, what is the story with the ATM taking his card? Was it reported stolen? Or was it a case of him forgetting to remove it from the slot after he was done in? If the former, then the system worked. If the latter, then all he had to do was call the ATM carrier and wait for them to come out and retrieve said card (with the correct ID). This has happened to me and the ATM guy from the bank came out in a few hours (the next morning in my case in CM) and all was done and dusted and yes there was a small fee.

 

Now... "living rough" and on "the beach" and "living out his suitcase"... no one saw him doing this? The police never noticed? Non of his other Farang brothers saw this?  Well...  whatever the case, the actions that are being reported as being taken against him should not have been allowed and actions should be taken against those that gave them to him. But we all know that will not happen. But at least the story is out there and noises are being made.

[bbbbooboo]

Boring.......zzzzz

[Basil B]

I can understand the ATM taking his card, it happened to me, in the UK the ATM returns the card before dispensing the cash, here it is the other way round.

 

But now I think there needs a change in the issuing of passports in the UK now when someone who knows the applicant well signs to say the Photo is a true likeness the should also say the person is "Compos mentis" too, I am not just saying if a person is retarded but other things like Alzheimer's and they should not be travelling alone, I am not saying such people should not have a passport, but the passport should indicate that the holder is not fit to travel unaccompanied, and persons accompanying should complete a form saying they are taking full responsibility.  

 

 

[ToYoungToRetire]

The tragedy is that it appears this man it seems has a mental age of 12 years old.

 

One  must ask what were his family doing with regards to letting him travel  here to Thailand  with 4,000 pounds in cash say around 200,000 baht.

 

Too many  unasked or unanswered questions in this case to ascertain the truth of the matter regarding the seemingly lack of interest and care shown by the mans family in the first place.

 

He has my sympathy  however  there needs to be an in depth look into the matter to hopefully prevent such a situation arsing again with this unfortunate man or others like him

My 28 Day vacation I only spent $5000 us, but I wasnt going for luxury.  Simple accommodations and simple tastes... Some people have to spend a lot of money to have fun, some people dont. 

[Strangebrew]

Ok first of all My brother had brain damage and I as his brother never let him travel anywhere without me to protect him from harm.Who in there right mind would let him travel alone to Thailand a country where he most likely can't speak or understand language. I have a feeling he must of won a huge lawsuit

Edited July 30, 2014 by Rimmer
Speculation removed

[me313]

-I do not beleive this story .
First he loses documents, why not contact british embassy???
Beaten by prison guards absolute rubbish.
Ihave spent time in a Thai prison . I was treated with the upmost respect by guards and other inmates.
British embassy contacted the prison, i spoke with man from embassy. He told me of my rights etc, we can contact a Thai lawyer for you, very helpful he was.
So before people speak about how unhelpful the British embassy staff are, think of people in my situation, they helped me.

 
Apparently you do not understand how the legal system differentiates between those people who are strong enough to have support and those--i.e. "disabled" and weak, who cannot get the type of protective exposure or support to not be harassed (or murdered, raped, etc) by anyone working in any branch of any service, whether at the Consular or local law enforcement level--in any country.   Not everyone gets the same protections, and police brutality against the weak and homeless is a rather well-known fact, which you should open your eyes to and not deny the reality to someone fighting for  justice.  Whether this particular man's story is correct or not, this type of situation happens with regularity  but it's rarely included in the news. Maybe it takes a white male from a European country being attacked for this to make the news.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Rimmer
Fonts and quotes fixed

[cgphuket]

 

-I do not beleive this story .

First he loses documents, why not contact british embassy???

Beaten by prison guards absolute rubbish.

Ihave spent time in a Thai prison . I was treated with the upmost respect by guards and other inmates.

British embassy contacted the prison, i spoke with man from embassy. He told me of my rights etc, we can contact a Thai lawyer for you, very helpful he was.

So before people speak about how unhelpful the British embassy staff are, think of people in my situation, they helped me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He has a mental age of 12

 

 

That's about the mental age of most tourists and 1/2 the expats I have met in Thailand.

 

[kamahele]

I certainly feel sorry for him regarding his disabilities and the beatings he claims to have endured even if the beatings were given because he didn't follow prison policy and refused to have his hair cut. The story however seems quite strange. 

[meatboy]

I think the D.W.P.might be interested in his escapades.

[Yann55]

There's hardly a single comment here that doesn't say how fishy the whole story is, so I won't say it once again. All I want to add is this :

 

1/ Either the story is true, in which case it would amply justify strong diplomatic action from the UK ambassador (if 'strong' and 'diplomatic' put together are anything other than a lame oxymoron, of course), or

 

2/ The story is a load of BS and then what is it doing here on a par with serious news ?

 

3/ No matter how and why this guy ended in jail, there is one statement that is absolutely true : Thai jails are pure hell, there is no way anyone could ever be 'rehabilitated' in those places, and all they achieve is consistently turning petty criminals into hardened ones because first time offenders (not to mention people who were wrongly accused, and it's not rare) regularly end up with the general population, where survival is the alpha and the omega.

No one goes through such an ordeal without permanent damage to their sense of self, their ethics (if any) and their relationship to the rest of society. If they were already antisocial they'll only get worse, and if they were not, their former confidence in justice, society, and morals will be so trampled on that there will be none of it left after a few months.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Yann55

[johnarth]

Do not know if true or not, but when I first moved to Thailand, an ATM sollowed my card, because I did not know what to do at the time I lost it,I opened an account with Kasikornbank, and try to use their ATMs, why? if an ATM takes your card you have two days to get it back, you can not go to bank to do this, you have to ring ATM security. phone number for Kasikorn ATMs is 02 888 8888. Hope this info helps someone.

[Yann55]

 

 

-I do not beleive this story .

First he loses documents, why not contact british embassy???

Beaten by prison guards absolute rubbish.

Ihave spent time in a Thai prison . I was treated with the upmost respect by guards and other inmates.

British embassy contacted the prison, i spoke with man from embassy. He told me of my rights etc, we can contact a Thai lawyer for you, very helpful he was.

So before people speak about how unhelpful the British embassy staff are, think of people in my situation, they helped me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He has a mental age of 12

 

 

That's about the mental age of most tourists and 1/2 the expats I have met in Thailand.

 

 

 

Thank God we have 16 years-old like you, cgphuket, to look up to.
 

Edited July 30, 2014 by Yann55

[elliss]

Bit strange the British Consulate did not react when they found he was being shuttled from place to place to keep him away from them.   On second thoughts not strange....we are talking about the British Embassy.

 

          Quite right ,    how  about his  disability benefits ?.

    British Consulate should have personally  delivered his  Giro, and all  his other benefits .

                                                            

[Friendly Stranger]

Don't know if they were exaggerating about his mental capacity of a 12 yr old but if not then the family or whomever knew he was going should be ashamed of themselves. They should have him contact home weekly and wire him cash periodically. But then again, if his capacity was diminished as such then this whole plan was silly to begin with. Feel sorry for him and hope he gets along at home where he should be.

[belg]

lost plane ticket? than you go the airplane company & report that, no ?

[joepattaya1961]

If he had a mental age of 12 years old, why was he allowed to go on holiday, plus meet his Thai Girlfriend ?? Some things just don't add up, maybe a budding Rabbie Burns...

Isn't this the century where disabled people are allowed to stand up for themselves and be as independent as possibly can?

Obviously his surroundings in Scotland didn't see any objections in letting him go on a holiday.

 

It would have been a good idea however, to send someone with him, but again......that's up to the disabled.

 

So far so good............now it went wrong and probably due to his disability, he was imprisoned (mis-communication?) and obviously he was treated like sh-i-t.......too bad..........welcome to an equal World.

[ilocos]

This story is sick.
Just 10 days overstay man.

Really wird.
They put him with criminals instead overstayers...

I agree with you but this is not a one of event, if you read enough it is part of the system.

[ilocos]

Moral of this story is to do everything in your power not to end up in a Thailand jail because it is well reported that the jails fall well below the standard of a Dutch jail. Leave several days before your visa expires, obey all requests & don't get lippy or else pay the consequences & obey all new enforcement of existing regulations. (comment deleted by moderator)

[DogNo1]

Many posters have pointed out that the man's family should have been more solicitous of his welfare but we don't know the family's circumstances.  Perhaps their ability to take proper care of him was impaired for some reason that we don't know. They may not have been sufficiently aware of or even interested in his circumstances in Thailand.  My daughter works as a social worker in the Vietnamese community in Seattle.  There are plenty of cases in which elderly people are not well taken care of by their families either because the family members are neglectful or simply too busy making a living to care for their elders properly.  Many posters on this topic do not seem to be aware of how often family members do not take good care of each other, not just in long-distance situations, but even in America when family members often live quite close together.  It's a shame but it happens all too often.