Phuket police in appeal for witnesses in Phuket assault case

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Phuket police in appeal for witnesses in Phuket assault case
The Phuket News


Phuket Police chief, Pachara Boonyasit, speaks to media yesterday (Sept 8)

PHUKET: -- The chief of Phuket police is appealing for anyone who may have information about an incident which occurred at Chalong pier on July 22, and resulted in the death of a 35-year-old musician, to come forward and not post misleading information on Facebook or other social media.

Pol Maj Gen Pachara Boonyasit held a meeting yesterday (Sept 8) to follow up on an assault case that resulted in the death of a local musician named as 35-year-old Rachet Eidjareon, after he died at Vachira Hospital on Sunday (Sept 6).

Following Mr Rachetʼs death, rumours started circulating on social media that he was beaten up and died because he had attempted to stop a woman from being raped on the morning of July 22.

Maj Gen Pachara said, “I contacted Chalong Police Chief, Col Nopphadon Thiriprawat, as soon as I heard these rumors on social media. Col Nopphadon confirmed that this was an assault case which happened on July 22.

“Mr Rachet was beaten with a motorcycle helmet and was found bleeding at the pier by his friends. “The victim's friends who were at the pier that night came to file a complaint at Chalong Police station on August 1 stating that Mr Rachet had been assaulted by a gang of teenagers who were hanging out at the pier. However, there was no mention of any rape in the report.

“This case is still being investigated and police are still looking for the suspect/s who assaulted Mr Rachet,” he said.

“Those who are posting messages on social media stating that Mr Rachet was beaten to death after he rescued a woman from being raped, and that Mr Rachet has been forgotten about by society and that authorities did not do enough to solve the case, or anyone who knows about or was witness to the incident, to please come forward so we can help each other solve this case.

“For now, the only information police have is that the victim was assaulted and the time frame when the incident took place. No rape has been report to police.

“We will be talking to the person who posted this message as maybe he or she knows something we don't,” sad Maj Gen Pachara.

Pol Lt Col Jareu Pladuang, an investigator at Chalong Police Sation added, “On July 22 around 1am, Mr Rachet and his three friends, Jamras Long-alee, Nattarin Nilubol and Prampree Promphet were fishing on Chalong pier.

“Another group of teenagers were already drinking in the area prior to their arrival.

“At 2:30am, Mr Jamras left the pier while Mr Prampree and Mr Nattarin went fishing. When Mr Prampree and Mr Nattarin returned they found Mr Rachet lying unconscious at the pier and the group of teenagers were gone.

“Mr Prampree and Mr Nattarin took Mr Rachet to the nearby tourist rescue centre before taking him to Vachira Hospital. On August 1, the group went to Chalong police and filed a complain of assault,” said Lt Col Jareu.

Meanwhile, Pol Col Nopphadon Thiriprawat of Chalong Police added, “Our records do not mention that Mr Rachet helped someone, it was reported only that he was found collapsed on the pier. This is according to the complaint filed by Mr Rachet's friends.

“We have questioned more than 10 people including family and friends of the victim, they all want officers to do whatever they can according to the law to find the suspects. We looked at CCTV footage from the area but as the incident happened at night the CCTV images were very blurred. We have never stopped looking for the suspects,” he said.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-police-in-appeal-for-witnesses-in-phuket-assault-case-54027.php


-- Phuket News 2015-09-09

[Rykbanlor]

Reading between the lines here, the Police are not even slightly concerned about the spreading of misinformation here.

It seems that talk of the case being abandoned and Mr Ratchet being "forgotten" by society has spurred this police statement.

While police here may not be pioneers in their field, they aren't as incompetent as sometimes assumed, financial motivations generally seem to get results (this of course can create problems of other sorts, baaaaa).

I suspect this like many other cases might have been forgotten about unless pressure from family etc is applied. Finally when possibly exposed on social media Police jump keenly in to claim they are still looking, and then make blustery statements about conflicting information to try and obscure their non-action.