'Missing' Irish teacher locked up for drunk driving in Phuket

[webfact]

'Missing' Irish teacher locked up for drunk driving
Phuket Gazette


Eion Cahill's friends last saw him at Tai Pan in Patong. Photo: Gazette file

PHUKET: -- The Phuket Tourist Police search for an Irish teacher who disappeared Saturday night came to a screeching halt after the Patong Police revealed that the 35-year-old man had been locked up for drunk driving.

Eion Cahill, a teacher at Satree Phuket School, was released on bail at 10:30 this morning.

“Mr Cahill’s friends last saw him at Tai Pan in Patong. When they were unable to find him the next day, they began searching for him,” Urumporn Koondejsumrit, chief of the Tourist Police told the Phuket Gazette. “Still unable to find him, they contacted us. We helped by posting his pictures on our Facebook page, which is how it became known that he was arrested for drunk driving by the Patong Police.”

Maj Urumporn had no further information about the case. Patong Police officers on duty today were also unaware of the exact circumstances surrounding Mr Cahill’s arrest, despite his having been let out on bail this morning.

“Phuket is getting tough on drunk driving. Please, for your safety and the safety of others, don’t drive drunk,” Maj Urumporn said.

Full story: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Missing-Irish-teacher-locked-for-drunk-driving/62326?desktopversion


-- Phuket Gazette 2015-11-11

[soihok]

The sky is falling

[Somtamnication]

The tourist police posted the info on their facebook page!!!!

Please don't tell me that they did not think about contacting the local police departments first?

[puukao]

This place is like Top Gun for teachers......Best of the Best.

[whatproblem]

What would Thailand do without Facebook

[Pomthai]

No condoning drink driving, but locking someone up for what appears to be at least 58 hours without communication or counsel is just wrong.

If caught for drink driving you should be banged to rights, but you also have a right to due process as well. Along the lines of arrested, taken to local police station processed and released with a trial date. It should not take almost 3 days and possibly cost someone their job.

[SOTIRIOS]

...selective enforcement of the law...

[Suradit69]

I'm guessing the US qualifies for what you condescendingly consider a "civilized" country and there is ample evidence of very little inter-agency information sharing there, whether for lack of infrastructure or intentional obfuscation.

How many convicted or charged miscreants in farangland simply exit their countries without any problem, passing through clueless immigrations check points and eventually have to be apprehended by Thai police to be returned to their civilized country of origin? Quite a few "central information data base" failures.

But then the point of your post is really just about taking a civilized opportunity to call the police here "mentally retarded" and imply that Thailand isn't as civilized as the country from which you fled, right?

And in UK:

The Home Office has lost track of nearly 175,000 illegal immigrants and will struggle to find them, it was revealed yesterday.

The beleaguered department faced fresh humiliation after MPs were told how many of those who had been refused permission to be in Britain had gone missing.

Officials were accused of ‘unacceptable complacency’ after admitting they had no idea where the missing immigrants and failed asylum seekers were.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2742786/Complacent-Home-Office-loses-175-000-illegal-immigrants-Fresh-humiliation-officials-admit-went-missing-refused-permission-stay.html

Edited November 11, 2015 by seedy
Quote hidden post

[cgphuket]

This place is like Top Gun for teachers......Best of the Best.

Not a lot of Nobel candidates working there, but you should see a certain school in Chiang Rai i used to work at. When I suggested to the principle that drug testing should be initiated for professional staff I was told "never happen, we would have to fire 3/4 of our teachers..."

[FangFerang]

"Eion Cahill, a teacher at Satree Phuket School, was released on bail at 10:30 this morning."

Naming names and schools is a sure way to get someone fired....

But no defamation suit here...a farang. Nothing to see...move along...

[mercman24]

re lost people.some time ago in the uk, illegals were given train fares, to get to the "illegals holding compound" well **** me not one showed up. LOL !! (the money came in handy)

[Stargeezr]

Even in your own country, Don't drink and drive!. This Irish Teacher should feel

pretty stupid. Getting a taxi ride is not that expensive, so why drink and drive.

The police departments in Thailand are not equipped in the same way as UK, or USA

or Canada. They do not have the multi million dollar communication systems.

It is funny that the tourist police, did not check with the local police though, but

what the heck, looks like face book saved the day.

[williamgeorgeallen]

What would Thailand do without Facebook

I know a bargirl whos brother got stabbed to death. she was living overseas with one of her sponsors but came back to Thailand to start a campaign (including facebook) to try to get some justice for her brother as the police don't seem to care about cases unless they are in the public eye. facebook seems to be fairly important in Thailand.

[NickJ]

This is still a THIRD World country. They should make use of that and keep them locked up for a week and then put them in a labor crew for three months before mandatory deportation..............

[TEFLKrabi]

No condoning drink driving, but locking someone up for what appears to be at least 58 hours without communication or counsel is just wrong.

If caught for drink driving you should be banged to rights, but you also have a right to due process as well. Along the lines of arrested, taken to local police station processed and released with a trial date. It should not take almost 3 days and possibly cost someone their job.

Would you rather he was out driving minibuses while still drunk? At least he's sobered up (for now) and is unlikely to re-offend.

[billphillips]

Who on earth in Thailand would wish to learn Irish ?

[sawadee1947]

maybe he's sitting already somewhere in Temple Bar/Dublin and reading this thread....

[sawadee1947]

Wow! Imagine that. An Irishman locked up for being drunk. Who would have thought?

Is there anything you would like to express by that...???

[NamKangMan]

No condoning drink driving, but locking someone up for what appears to be at least 58 hours without communication or counsel is just wrong.

If caught for drink driving you should be banged to rights, but you also have a right to due process as well. Along the lines of arrested, taken to local police station processed and released with a trial date. It should not take almost 3 days and possibly cost someone their job.

Perhaps he refused to identify himself. Maybe even supplied false name/s and address/s.

After realising he wasn't going anywhere until his identity was confirmed, he supplied his correct details.

[NamKangMan]

Even in your own country, Don't drink and drive!. This Irish Teacher should feel

pretty stupid. Getting a taxi ride is not that expensive, so why drink and drive.

The police departments in Thailand are not equipped in the same way as UK, or USA

or Canada. They do not have the multi million dollar communication systems.

It is funny that the tourist police, did not check with the local police though, but

what the heck, looks like face book saved the day.

"Getting a taxi ride is not that expensive, so why drink and drive." - because a tuk-tuk and/or taxi on Phuket can cost more than your night out.

[callaway]

How will anyone find anyone when the powers to be close down all social media in the name of National Security?

[cyberfarang]

Have you heard the one about the Irishman who was thought to be missing, but was locked up for drunk driving?

[wvavin]

There are really a lot of quality tourists in Phuket.

[Mojomor]

Well if he is Irish, he should at least have his name spelt correctly, which should be Eoin and not Eion as the article states.

[Bernard Flint]

When iread about non thais knocking thais for bad driving/ drunken or drink driving, then we here so many non thais doing exactly the psame. I was talking to an ecxpat in a bar last week, he was boasting that the cosp would have to catch him first, whilst drink driving, i had to tell him what a nobhead he is, and not giving a flying fluk for anybody else,s safety. This guy was a typical expat, who lives in a beer bar and his only chatlines were about bargirls and drinking, what a pathetic creature.

[luckyman]

The Police had to post on Facebook to find him ? My god are they so mentally retarded they couldn't pick up a phone and ring round the local stations ?

Don't the RTP have a central information data base like other civilized countries ?

Since when do you reckon Thailand as a civilized country ?

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

Great!! I am all for tougher drunk driving laws in LOS as well as public education campaigns and proper enforcement and accountability to the violators.

With that in mind, where is the Red Bull guy?

[Alration]

No condoning drink driving, but locking someone up for what appears to be at least 58 hours without communication or counsel is just wrong.

If caught for drink driving you should be banged to rights, but you also have a right to due process as well. Along the lines of arrested, taken to local police station processed and released with a trial date. It should not take almost 3 days and possibly cost someone their job.

Perhaps the drunk teacher didn't want it to be common knowledge that he had been arrested. We all have the right to request that 3rd parties are not notified if we are arrested.

Edited November 11, 2015 by Alration

[samsensam]

drunk driver? quality human being.

[Phuketboy]

I'm still laughing at the comment about getting tough on drink driving. Saw an article the other day where they had to hit a quoter each month. However, when the bars and clubs close, the police are nowhere to be seen. Not one police officer at the end of Soi Sansabai (where everyone parks to go to work). If they were serious about getting tough they would have police at both ends of the Soi, and would reach their monthly quoter in a matter of minutes. 3000 bar girls + tourists all travelling home drunk. I guess it's selective and if that is getting tough, then I'm superman.