Thread: Australian stabbed in heart in Thai bag-snatch tragedy

Shocked TAT says stabbings "rare" | Travel Weekly

Shocked TAT says stabbings "rare"

21 June, 2012 Anne Majumdar



The Thailand Tourism Authority has joined the industry in expressing its shock at the fatal stabbing of Australian travel agent Michelle Smith but insisted it is an isolated incident.

“Something like this should not happen,” TAT PR manager Pongsak Kanittanon said.

But he stressed the episode did not point to larger problem.

He predicted tourism numbers to Thailand would take a hit in the aftermath of the tragedy, but was optimistic local authorities would “take steps to bring back confidence.”

Meanwhile, he attempted to reassure those planning to visit the country.

“There is no need to be worried. This is a very rare type of incident,” he said.

Originally Posted by Dianne Thuge

added: ''These things can happen in Parramatta Road. We just feel so sorry for the poor woman. But it's hard to blame Phuket.''

you should be blaming phuket - all these people need to forget the "exotic" destinations and go to FNQ instead as they will get the same scenery but cleaner and they will be much safer

Originally Posted by baldrick

Originally Posted by Dianne Thuge

added: ''These things can happen in Parramatta Road. We just feel so sorry for the poor woman. But it's hard to blame Phuket.''

you should be blaming phuket - all these people need to forget the "exotic" destinations and go to FNQ instead as they will get the same scenery but cleaner and they will be much safer

With you on that, but a lot more expensive.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Shocked TAT says stabbings "rare" | Travel Weekly

Shocked TAT says stabbings "rare"

21 June, 2012 Anne Majumdar



The Thailand Tourism Authority has joined the industry in expressing its shock at the fatal stabbing of Australian travel agent Michelle Smith but insisted it is an isolated incident.

“Something like this should not happen,” TAT PR manager Pongsak Kanittanon said.

But he stressed the episode did not point to larger problem.

He predicted tourism numbers to Thailand would take a hit in the aftermath of the tragedy, but was optimistic local authorities would “take steps to bring back confidence.”

Meanwhile, he attempted to reassure those planning to visit the country.

“There is no need to be worried. This is a very rare type of incident,” he said.

Rare.What a load of bollox.
There was somebody stabbed at Nai Harn a couple weeks ago.
Police could not give a fck and it never made the press.
a police guy got shot in a after hours Karaoke just meters from Chalong Police station the other night I suppose that is a rare happening as well

Phuket NEWS: Fatal knife attack: Phuket police scour island for tw

Chalong Police have told the Phuket Gazette that they have identified the two suspects and are moving in to make arrests.

The men are to face charges of attempted robbery with the use of motorbike and using a knife as a deadly weapon, resulting in injury and death.

A police press conference is expected to be held at 2pm today.

TAT. A rare incident.Its about time they took their heads out of there arse's


Phuket Tourist from Britain 'Stabbed on First Night'
By Chutima Sidasathian
Thursday, June 21, 2012
PHUKET: A British tourist has told of being stabbed in an incident on Phuket early today - the same night that an Australian woman died in a second stabbing.

Mohamad Zubair Edwa, 37, was grimacing in pain today in Phuket International Hospital as he told how three men on a motorbike confronted him, and one stabbed him in the side.



Mr Edwa, orginally from Cambridge, said he was riding from a bar near Chalong Circle to his Rawai apartment in southern Phuket about 3.30am after arriving on the island yesterday.

''Three men on a moped, they pulled up alongside me as i was riding and said 'Do you want a smoke,' obviously talking about drugs. I accellerated, driving faster.

''Somehow they overtook me and they blocked the road in front of me. Two stayed on the motorbike, one got off. I saw him on the road and went to go past him.
''Probably about 300 metres from the roundabout, he hit me with something metallic.

''As I was riding, I touched my back, and there was blood all over my hands. A lady saw me, she called an ambulance. She said 'I think you should go to hospital.'

''The ambulance arrived and took me to hospital.'' Doctors treated a knife wound in his side.

Mr Edwa lives in Kuala Lumpur, works as a wine broker dealing with fine wines, and has been holidaying in Bangkok and Chiang Mai for six weeks.

''I like Phuket it's very nice,'' he said. ''But not this.'' He hopes to be out of hospital later today.

There is no connection at this stage between the stabbing of Edwa and the killing of Michelle Smith outside the Katathani Phuket Beach resort earlier in the night.

'She didn't have a chance,' stab victim's brother says

June 21, 2012 - 3:29PM


A family picture of Michelle Smith last Christmas.

Michelle Smith sent an email to her large family last Saturday, filling them in on her latest adventure around the globe.

"I'm off to Phuket on Monday. I'm looking forward to sipping cocktails by the pool in the warm sunshine!," the 60-year-old travel agent wrote, before hopping on a plane in her home city of Perth and flying to Thailand.

The next news her family received was an early-morning call today, telling them the tragic news that she had been stabbed in the heart outside her five-star resort in Phuket and was dead.

The mother-of-two was walking home from dinner about 10.30pm last night with another travel agent, Tammee Lynn, when they became suspicious of two men who passed them several times on a motorcycle.

The women were walking single-file along the narrow street close to the Katathani Phuket Beach Resort where they were staying when the men attacked Mrs Smith, who was walking behind, and attempted to grab her handbag.

Mrs Smith is believed to have held on to her bag and the men stabbed her in the chest, piercing her heart. As they tried to escape they also slashed Ms Lynn's arm.

At first the shocked women continued walking, unaware of the severity of their injuries, before Mrs Smith collapsed. She died on the street.

The attack is believed to have been captured on CCTV camera.

Mrs Smith's older brother, Alan Gordon, today described the murderers as cowardly.

"She didn't have a chance. At least if she got stabbed in the arm or the leg or the stomach, we'd probably be flying over to Phuket to see her. But stabbed in the heart ... " he said, trailing off.

"It's just a cowardly act, and it's just a horrible thing to happen.

"Michelle was very much loved. It's just hard to come to grips with. I suppose tomorrow it will sink in, I don't know."

Mr Gordon, from Scone in New South Wales, paid tribute to his lively sister, a travel agent of 40 years who was on an organised trip to Phuket with nine other travel agents to inspect new facilities on the holiday island when tragedy struck.

He said his sister got the travel bug as a youngster and, at the age of 18, set off on a world adventure before returning to Australia and settling down in her early 20s to become a travel agent, for which she won awards.

She married Geoff and they had two children, Chanelle and Cameron, who are both now in their 20s. They lived in Butler, in Perth's northern suburbs.

Mr Gordon said his sister, who worked at RAC Travel in Joondalup and had visited Phuket previously, had never encountered any serious trouble on her travels.

"I used to worry about her going to Bali, because of what's happened over there (with tourists in recent years), but she said, 'No they're lovely people'," Mr Gordon said.

"She loved everyone. Michelle was the type of person who wouldn't say a bad word about anyone. She would prefer to stick up for them, for the underdog. She was just a great human being and very much loved."

He said he and Michelle came from a close-knit family of eight, and many people in their childhood home of Longreach in Queensland had phoned to express their shock and sympathy today.

Family and friends would fly to Perth once his sister's body was returned to say their final farewell.

"We were over in Perth just last month to celebrate Michelle's 60th birthday," Mr Gordon said.

"Even though it's a tragedy, when we get together again it will be a celebration of her life. We'll have a few beers together and there will certainly be some tears, but there will also be happy memories of Michelle."

In an email to her "wonderful, amazing family" after they visited Perth for her birthday, Mrs Smith invited them on a planned trip to New York this year.

"My dream is now a reality ... next September I will be off to New York. yah! (who is coming with me???)," she wrote.

"Friendship and Family really is one of the sweetest joys of life. I have been overwhelmed by your generosity to me.

"I can't express in words how touched I was to have you all in Perth for my celebration of 60 years."



Read more: Australian murdered in Phuket

Booked to stay there for 2 weeks at the start of August. I'm presently trying to talk the Dragon Lady down off the ceiling.
We like it at Kata noi because it is quiet and a little out of the way but not too far from the fun. We have a soft spot for Phuket but the way things are going that may change in the future.
Phukets' resorts may have to consider adopting the same sort of security measures that are used by resorts and hotels in Bali and the Philippines.It may be a hassle every time you leave or enter the premises but you do feel safe with all that shiny hardware they carry.
Anyway fuck 'em.If you are on holiday and worried about being mugged their is a nice little shop on Patak road in Karon that sells some nice concealable items.

Originally Posted by richie22

TAT. A rare incident.Its about time they took their heads out of there arse's

Phuket Tourist from Britain 'Stabbed on First Night'

Cheers, put this in to a new thread

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

''My husband Mr Preeya heard the screams. We were afraid to go out to help, it was so loud and frightening. I asked him whether we should go out but he said 'Maybe it's better not to go.''

A default Thai mechanism. This sort of cowed behaviour only manifests itself in a society where violence, or the fear of it, is commonplace. Any normal human being would have instinctively investigated the cause but the Thai are not actually normal in that sense. The fear of involvement in someone else's business that might have potential adverse repercussions overrides a basic instinct most humans have developed over thousands of years evolution. Sure, once one witnesses, say, a knife wielding maniac in the street and then decides to remain in safety is quite predictable behaviour based on a rational fear but to not even emerge and investigate the source?

A vivid insight into the Thai there. Quite useless people only fit for subservience.

Not too many positive comments here.

Perth tourist murdered in Phuket | 3AW Radio

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

“Something like this should not happen,” TAT PR manager Pongsak Kanittanon said.

Yes but it does
So what do they intend to do about it?
Bury their heads in the sand as usual?

Originally Posted by thegent

A default Thai mechanism. This sort of cowed behaviour only manifests itself in a society where violence, or the fear of it, is commonplace. Any normal human being would have instinctively investigated the cause but the Thai are not actually normal in that sense. The fear of involvement in someone else's business that might have potential adverse repercussions overrides a basic instinct most humans have developed over thousands of years evolution. Sure, once one witnesses, say, a knife wielding maniac in the street and then decides to remain in safety is quite predictable behaviour based on a rational fear but to not even emerge and investigate the source?

A vivid insight into the Thai there. Quite useless people only fit for subservience.

I agree, their ways of keeping themselves to themselves can appear loathsome at times. I was at the back of a bus once, when some guy at the front started beating the crap out of his wife. Nobody did a thing. My friend and i had to run to the front of the bus to restrain him. We ran past plenty of youngish Thai males all looking out of the window. However six years in the kingdom have made me much more cautious than i once was. Just look what happen to this chap (the neighbour) because of his curiosity.

https://teakdoor.com/thailand-and-asi...d-suspect.html (Nakhon Phanom: Jealous Ex-Husband Suspect in murder of 5 killed in shootout)

Originally Posted by crocman

Phukets' resorts may have to consider adopting the same sort of security measures that are used by resorts and hotels in Bali and the Philippines.It may be a hassle every time you leave or enter the premises but you do feel safe with all that shiny hardware they carry.

False security.

Originally Posted by Sir Wilson

Originally Posted by crocman

Phukets' resorts may have to consider adopting the same sort of security measures that are used by resorts and hotels in Bali and the Philippines.It may be a hassle every time you leave or enter the premises but you do feel safe with all that shiny hardware they carry.

False security.

Maybe so but at least it is better than none.Seeing four guys armed with chrome plated shotguns, a sniffer dog and a female security guard as well outside your hotel at least presents a visual deterrent.
Might make somebody think twice.

Watch how the Thai Government goes into a huff now, when the various foreign affairs departments from civilised countries around the world, increase the warnings to their citizens about the dangers of travel in Thailand.

spin machine is in top gear , ex pats from Phuket are on Oz media , decreeing the incident and talking up the local plod to close the case expediently ....................

Originally Posted by FailSafe

"..........if you are so simple-minded as to think this was anything but part of the growing issue of street thuggery,....."

First came the coup against a duly elected Government perpetrated by anti-democracy forces in the service of those we can only speculate about, using airport closures to achieve their objectives.

To characterize the response by voters whose electoral achievements were negated, as "street thuggery" is perpetuating the Amart agenda of contemptuousness, condescension and disdain of the voting public.

But being an avowed Chamber-of-Commerce aficionado, I would expect your rightwing, ultra-Conservative opinionating, in league with like-minded types at the top of the political pyramid here in Thailand.

But never mind that. This is going way off topic.

As I mentioned, I am dubious of these Phuket tourism tragedies having political undertones, unlike what some UDD/Red Shirts think.

^

I didn't make that characterization, you did- I consider muggings and stabbings of innocent tourists on the street to be 'street thuggery', and I don't believe it's politically motivated anymore than a jackal is politically motivated when it kills a rabbit.

I do, however, characterize you as an idiot.

Well, I'm off to my Chamber of Commerce meeting- it looks like it might rain- must be those damned Yellows doing some cloud seeding...

Originally Posted by Calgary

Originally Posted by Blue water dreaming

Watch how the Thai Government goes into a huff now,

Well, you just proved a point that I was doubtful about.

Sometimes the UDD/Red Shirts paranoia 'floweth over', with respect to the machinations of the Amart.............. and not without reason.

I mentioned these numerous attacks on tourists in Phuket, and their response was, that it could be by design. They suggested that they wouldn't put it past the Democrat Party and their minions in the South, to create problems within the tourism industry as a way of embarrassing Ms. Y and company.

I was dubious about that.....but then I read the above quote from a PADite, which seemed to corroberate what the Red Shirts were saying.

Although I'm dubious about that degree of duplicity, even though I know the DP is capable of it.

You really are a dense little twerp. This is not about points scoring through trying to advance you own particularly warped brand of politics. You can make yourself feel good through political masturbation, but you should keep it where it belongs you grubby, twisted little bum.

Try to understand the topic and if you can't comment without trying to draw idiotic parallels, keep quiet.

Trying to score political points from the sort of violence which is being discussed here, brands you as the lowest form of political scum which exists. The Goebbellist label will now strike a chord with the majority of decent people who visit this forum.