New Zealander killed in Karon

KARON: -- New Zealand tourist Warwick Button, 32, died early Thursday morning during a fight with bar owner Wayne Robinson, 40, and his friend Anthony Quinn, 56, both from the UK.

Chalong Police Inspector Lt Col Chokchai Sutthimek told the Gazette that he was informed of an altercation among foreigners at the Dimension Bar on the access road to the Karon Whale Resort at about 1 am on October 12.

Arriving at the scene 10 minutes later, Col Chokchai found bar owner Robinson sitting on the victim’s neck and back area and Quinn sitting on his posterior, both apparently trying to constrain the New Zealander, with whom they had been fighting.

Separating the men and turning over Button, who was lying face down, Col Chokchai found he had already died. Apart from a bloody nose and some bruises on his mouth and chin, there were no other signs of injury to the victim, he said.

Button’s body was sent to Patong Hospital for examination.

Col Chokchai said that during questioning, the victim’s girlfriend, also from New Zealand, said she had dinner with Button at the Buffalo Steak House in Kata that night. However the couple had an argument and Button dropped the woman off at their room at the Golden Sand Inn about 11 pm, before going back out on his own.

Button was already very drunk, she told police, adding that she only learned of her boyfriend’s death after waking up the following morning.

The Gazette contacted the New Zealand Embassy, where media relations officer Linda Walker confirmed the victim’s name, spelling and age, but refused to give any further information. She said that Button’s next of kin had already been notified and that she did not want to release any information to the media.

Chalong Police, treating the death as accidental, charged both men with manslaughter and released them on bail, the total amount of which was reported as 600,000 baht.

--Phuket Gazette 2006-10-14

Aside from the death part, you see plenty of drunks fighting and make a tit of themselves here in Pattaya. I just can't understand why anyone would come so far just to get into a fight. Makes no sense...

how long in the clink for manslaughter?

how long in the clink for manslaughter?

Wouldn't that all depend how much you've got to contribute to the judges' and prosecutors' kids motorcycle purchase?

Al-K-Hol does it's thing again.

exactly.

sound like the brits were only too happy to get stuck in as well.

two people sitting on a corpse (one on his neck )in order to restrain it.

unbelievable.

but then again.....some of the bar owners here , and some of their clientele....

More than likely Asphyxiation. My sympathy’s to his relatives

Sad, did not have to happen. These guys will bail out of LOS reo reo. Mark my words.

Kiwi dies in Thai bar fight

17 October 2006

By EMILY WATT AND NZPA

Alex Button was working long hours overseas, saving hard to marry and return to New Zealand.

That came to a horrific end last week when he died in a bar fight in the Thai tourist resort of Phuket.

Thai police said Mr Button died early on Thursday during a fight with a British bar owner and his friend. They were found sitting on top of him.

Mr Button, 32, left the Waikato town of Otorohanga a year ago, and found work as a deck hand on an oil boat on the China Sea. He was making good money and was saving to set up a home.

His fiancee, a nurse at Waikato Hospital, was visiting and the two were on holiday at the resort.

Otorohanga resident Garry Robinson, who employed Mr Button in his water services company, said: "He's a very nice guy. There'd have to be something reasonably serious for him to start going off."

Mr Robinson said Mr Button was working 90-day shifts, with 30 days off. He was planning to work three more shifts and return home.

Chalong police inspector Lieutenant Colonel Chokchai Sutthimek told the Phuket Gazette he was called to the Dimension Bar soon after midnight to find the owner and his friend sitting on Mr Button. He was face down, dead. Apart from a bleeding nose and bruises on his mouth and chin there were no signs of injury.

Mr Button's fiancee told police they had dined earlier but she had gone home after an argument. Mr Button was very drunk.

Chalong police are treating the death as accidental and have charged both men with manslaughter and released them on bail.

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