Multiple Farang Deaths in Phuket

[jaidee]

In the past two months there has been a rash of unsolved deaths of Farangs in Phuket. One Canadian man in Patong,shot multiple times in dispute over property, one British man living and working out of a shop house, head bashed in, near-by the Lotus Super Store By-pass road, poisoning of an American lady, a Norwegian lady and two other foreign persons on Kho Pi Pi island, and lastly one British lady found face down in the sand on Keron beach strangled to death.

None of these cases have been found to have any weight within the public news media in Thailand other than reports in the local Phuket Gazette, when it reports and then never follows up as is the norm here on the island. To date no person or persons have been found by local police and prosecuted for any of the alleged crimes/murders. Foreign Embassy Staff have registered their dismay along political circles, but as is common practice this leads to embarrassing faces all around.

The recent death of the American lady on Kho Pi Pi was said to have the body taken to Bangkok for a autopsy by local police, however it was later established that the body was subsequently cremated without an autopsy having been performed. It has been established that the Thai authorities did however provide slices of the deceased skin for further examination by the deceased family at their own cost back in America.

I'm wondering if this is some sort of pattern being established regarding expected follow-up by local and Bangkok police following foreigners deaths in the Kingdom Of Thailand? Is this a cover-up to save face for the future safety of foreign visitor's and tourists. It seems a backward way of doing so since all the foreign press are covering these as well as multiple other stories regarding life within Thailand.

[Sean Moran]

Welcome to the forum, JaiDee!

[villager]

Hi Pappy , serious post and no piss take, the big problem with most tourist area,s that it attracts the the wrong sort of people who just go there for a quick Baht and to prey on the unwary , up here in the sticks serious crime which is an everyday occurrence in the tourist area,s is virtually unheard of.

[stilljustbrowsing]

Most tourist spots around the world attract criminals of the type refered to here by the OP. The problem here seems to be the lack of reporting in the national press and an apparent lack of "follow up" by the police.

[stilljustbrowsing]

As I said before, these things happen all over the world, particularly tourist spots. The main difference appears in the follow-up actions! Some countries appear to do better than others. (the Madelene case case in Portugal could, perhaps be considered an exeption, to be honest, I don't really know)

[jaidee]

Thank you all for your responses to this question. It appears that "normal," people accept that "in tourist areas these kind of activities are normal and accepted practice." Nothing new, or even something to be concerned over.

That said, if one considers London, or Paris, or New York a so called tourist area, would such a long and brutal series of crimes go by with a statement and silence such as found here on this board or from local police authorities? I doubt it.

Perhaps this is just a waste of time? I suppose a more worthwhile and interesting subject would be the British/Nigerian lady sent to prison for smuggling 500+ grams of heroin in Laos, who claims it wasen't hers, although they found it attached to her person. Lets get worked up about this wrongful incarceration, since murders of foreigners isn't worthy fodder for this board.

[Sean Moran]

Okay. I did 77 days in 1999 although I wasn't a foreigner back then. When I got out and called to ask them what they were doing about the value of those days she told me they'd reduce the sentence time on my next conviction. Looks like somebody forgot to mention to her that I was never convicted in the first place, eh?

[pachangamac042]

Two friends, husband and wife, were involved in a traffic accident between Patong and Kemala. An old and drunk local caused a head on collision with the couple. Husband killed, wife seriously injured.

When the police went to interview the wife in hospital, they started to blame the accident on the victims, even it was 100% clear, that the local had done wrong. Police were accusing the foreign couple for driving a motorbike at 1 o’clock in the morning.

The wife had a nervous breakdown and only thanks to the intervention of the honorary Consul on Phuket the police left the woman alone. The old local man has never been accused of anything and has been seen driving his pick up truck since and he still enjoys his white whisky.

Or the German trouble maker, who has been found dead in the sea. Midnight swim accident with no foul play, was the official cause. Broken skull in a sandy beach with no rocks whatsoever. Strange thing, this guy hated water, could not swim at all and has never been to the beach before.

Just two sad stories, from the land were foreigners die easily and police could not care less. Seems like the authorities say, if the victims would not have come to Thailand, they would not have died here. Sad Thailand…

[Sean Moran]

As much as I see that I have suffered for it, (I see these scars every morning when I look at my face in the mirror - right-temple 2005, left temple-2006...), I still prefer Thai justice to that of the strangers with which I have found myself having to become accustommed to lately...

[stilljustbrowsing]

I guess someone, somewhere is under "orders" not to "over-publicise" wrong doings in tourist locations for fear of detering future tourists! So sad. If the culprits where brought to trail and imprisoned accordingly, there may be more tourists than before.