This is exactly what the more perceptive and knowledgeable members here have been saying.The rumour mill among the farang on the island discloses the possibility the male victim had had an argument that night with some local chickenhead working in one of the bars.
The " staff " at Thai beach bars come from the dregs of Thai society, the no hopers, the chancers, the untrustworthy and the violent, the equivalent of the type of day release lowlife who would be found manning fairground rides in the UK circa 1970.
Addled with drug and drink, seething with suppressed anger and self loathing and uniformly marinated in testosterone, their volatility is soon channelled by the boorish antics of their moneyed and disrespectful customers into an unstoppable fit of hatred, it is no surprise that sooner or later one or two of these males revert to type, succumb to the dictates of their genes and behavioural shortcomings and respond in the only way they know how when a loss of face occurs.
Why the local lowlives, who in every other Thai community are very well known to the police, have not been rounded up and interviewed by Pol. Sgt. Baseball bat and Pol.Sgt. Electrode is something we will never know.
What we can be sure of now, is that whilst time has been wasted with the falang brothers, the Thai neanderthals that did this will have left the island and will in all probability be happily employed serving drinks and drugs to backpackers on another island beach.
The performance of the Thai police and authorities in all this has been seen many times before can only be likened to that of the short lived and aimless dance of headless chickens.
The pronouncements from Thais in high office claiming that no Thai could have done this and that the victims were somehow responsible for their fate prove yet again how ignorant and out of touch with reality these people are.
What is it about this race of einsteins that has resulted in them coming hard up against the buffers of self improvement and achievement. They are unable to see and acknowledge the errors and shortcomings that results from their short sightedness and arrogance, surely then they are doomed to languish at the bottom of the human pile.
It is quite impossible to take any of them seriously. They should be treated gently and kindly, like the special needs drooler, as if they were, shall we say, not the full shilling, a slice short of a loaf, for that is what they are, just treat them with a pat on the shoulder, a reassuring " yes, yes " a condescending smile, feed them a peanut or a handful of straw , or better still give them a 20 baht note, and they will be happy and love you forever and cause you no bother.
Simple is as simple does.