Thread: Farang and the neighbour from hell in Si Racha

Updated: [ December 10, 2009
ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGE REDUCED TO BT3100 FINE AND FREE TO GO

ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGE REDUCED TO BT3100 FINE AND FREE TO GO --> Pattaya Daily News : pattaya daily update news

Barry Parkinson successfully won his case against the police charge of attempted murder. This is the edited version of Barry’s view of the whole affair. However, avid commentators take note, especially those who chose to take a negative and, in some cases, a blatantly prejudicial view of his role in the affair, that he is none too pleased with your comments, as you will see by his replies to you that are embedded in the text.

Those who said I was crazy to do what I did are right, but, when you’re driven to the point of no return like I was, don’t do what I did, call the police, instead.

I don’t know who is right or wrong out of the three sides now involved in this saga: you the commentators, me or the police. I came to Thailand to retire in my Thai wife’s country, having been married to her for 13 years. Looking at Thailand through English eyes, I saw a Golden Nugget in the midst of Communism that shone like a beacon of hope among Far Eastern countries. It looked good.

Having visited Thailand a few times over the past 10 years and driven 6000 plus kilometres around the north, south east and west of the country, it looked stable enough, with a democracy and a monarchy in place. I was convinced Thailand had the makings of a good place to live and it was better than the surrounding countries.


What I got wrong, however, was thinking that those Thai people who chose to live in the new estate where I live in Sri Racha, had manners, good breeding and were respectable people, who wished to live in harmony with their neighbours, instead of acting ill-mannered village yokels.

It is said that you only need one bad apple to spoil the barrel, and I had the misfortune to find him, namely ‘The Neighbour from Hell’ living opposite me, who has a police friend that was prepared to lie on the charge sheet and in court, and who apparently is also keen to attempt to extort money out of any white man that stands up for himself.

I forgot that some leopards don’t change their spots, my neighbour being a prime example. All the other people in the neighbourhood tend to act normally, showing respect for one another, but not this one. So one day, after one year of harassment I said to myself ‘that’s enough’, stood my ground and said NO, but fell into the trap of extortion and blackmail.

Now, let’s talk about you, the negative commentators. None of you know me, yet you run me down in your comments, saying I am a fool, and, to some degree, you are right. You also say I should sell the house and do a runner, I thought about that, too. Some of you accuse me of being ‘a stuck-up Pom’. Because of what? Because I go sailing, and was the Chairman of Squash and UKITA, the Olympic sailing organization in the UK? Well you got that wrong, I’m a fighter and achieve things, not like some of you, by the sounds of it.

I have high standards, that’s why I decided NOT live in Pattaya where you lot live. Straight away I differentiate myself from you, because you choose to live in what I can only describe as a pigsty. I do not suffer fools gladly, which some of you evidently are, and your morals seem to be somewhat lower than mine, so be it. However, I’m not here to educate you, but I do consider the Thais need to be educated on how to live in peace.
My wife and I went through 9 months of hell and deservedly so, I messed up. I considered paying compensation, but certain members of the police seemed only to want to put me in jail on a false charge. I considered paying Bt500,000 blackmail. I also considered doing a runner or skipping bail, but, in the end, I decided to fight back against corruption, unlike some of you commentators!

So that’s who I am, I’m not sure about you negative commentators, though. I don’t know what makes you tick. From what I have read, you must be from the ‘If you can’t beat them, join them brigade’. It seems whatever you learnt in the West, you have thrown away. Some of your comments on PDN make me cry. They are pitiful, but you obviously enjoy the gutter, you live in Pattaya, after all, so sit there and tip some pig swill on your head, you will evidently enjoy that as well.

Now don’t get me wrong, I might sound like a ‘Goody-two-shoes’ type of guy, but I am most definitely not. I am not religious; I drink beer and make love to women. My waste product smells just like everybody else’s, so don’t think I’m a good guy, I’m not, but I am not a bad guy either. I just don’t lay down easily when I know I’m in the right.

Enough about me and how I feel about you guys with your comments. Let’s see now what I have to say about the system.


Like you, I am influenced by right and wrong, good and bad. Some books, like the one I am reading now, influence me - The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine, 1792 – adviser to George Washington, the President of the United States. Also the closing speech of Anthony Hopkins in the film ‘Amistad’, a film about Slavery, you should watch it.

One of my thoughts is that in 1792 the American judicial system was considering The Rights of Man. That’s over 200 hundred years ago, but here in Thailand, today, they have a revised version, it’s called ‘The rights of the Con Man’. Corruption and blackmail is condoned by you know who in Thailand; I know, I was sent by members of the group in question to arbitrate with a blackmailer who wanted Bt500,000 to pay them off. They did not trust me because they thought I was going to sting them, to take photos of the blackmailer, and certain members of the constabulary, to run the risk of death and expose them.

My first lawyer in Pattaya was sacked by me for not doing enough to prove to me that they intended to pull out all the stops to win my case. They are listed in the recommended list of lawyers to use at the Consulate in Pattaya (their name has three letters).

Eventually, I used the lawyer recommended by Mayday Consulting in Jomtien Beach. They, along with my wife, inspired me with confidence that I could win the case, given a chance. Maybe I was a fool to continue fighting the case. I am not naïve enough to think that honesty and fairness will prevail here in Thailand. I took months to convince myself that I stood a chance of winning the case, and it was two weeks before the case that I felt my Lawyer was up to speed because he had read the translation of my editorial on PDN. My wife translated it into Thai for him; then I knew we had a chance of winning and win we did.


The next step was to actually win the case. I still had time to do a runner after the trial because there was a 5 week wait for the verdict. If you had been in court with me, you would have laughed at the pitiful prosecution case. They proved nothing. They had no evidence, which by law they have to have; they had to prove their allegation of ‘Attempted Murder’ and failed. They were eventually laughed out of court, and quite rightly so.

After the case was heard, I was almost totally convinced we had won. We proved that I did not actually attack anyone, and without an attack, you can’t actually commit murder! It’s not enough merely to say I pulled a knife, therefore I was attempting to murder somebody; consequently there was a gaping hole in the Prosecution’s case; a hole big enough to walk through!

In the West, this case would not even get to court, but it did here in Thailand because they failed to take a statement from me, so nobody knew my side of the story, only the biased police story with 70% of the details missing.


The system here evidently has a lot to learn. Not taking a statement from me at the police station is like issuing me with a ‘get out of jail free’ card; they left a huge loophole for me to exploit to the utmost. Not getting a search warrant to find the knife was another grave error on their part. On reflection, if they had got a search warrant, they could have chosen any knife they liked. I would have denied it, but I would have lost.

It wasn’t a case of me merely getting lucky either. I knew from day one the police had nothing on me, only hearsay. I took photographs at 10pm proving that any witness they had wouldn’t have been able to see clearly in the darkness, with only one broken light and the others too far away to see anything distinctly. This actually proved to be right; their witness was an absolute joke, whereas my witness, on the other hand, had a clear view, with illumination, and was only 20ft away.

The man who charged me, if can call him that, I would not like to put my life in his hands. In my country you get shot for desertion and cowardice in the face of the enemy in war; here, you just run away like a baby. By the way, his evidence was extremely poor as well.

So we were now left with anybody else they could possibly call as a witness. They produced a policeman who chose the wrong person 3 times, saying they were guilty party, charged with the offence, and not me! This made the court split its sides, but, the funny thing was, on a lighter note, I was somewhat upset that the policeman had chosen this ugly guy, saying it was me.
I now run the risk of being victimized by the police because they lost the case. We have one ‘angry mother’ out there, who not only lost face, but has mud on it, to boot. He also committed perjury in court and ran away from a plastic knife that never even came near him. This guy is a police major, who should be sacked.

We all have our crosses to bear, so I will soldier on knowing that the judge saw the police evidence was clearly a fabrication and who dealt with it accordingly. My lawyer and PDN evidently believe in me, so does my wife, and what she has to say about the Thai people makes for interesting reading.

I could say what I really think about the Thai people as well, but I don’t want any more bad comments from you PDN readers. Let’s end the report by saying I might get killed for what I have said and done but, at least I stood up and fought the fight. You will know who had me bumped off if that happens, so take him to court for me.

Barry Parkinson

Yep, classic grumpy old man with absolutely no idea of how others behave in other countries.

Yeah the neighbours took the piss, yeah their party was loud, yeah it's irritating, but this isn't England and maybe he should've stayed there.

If he'd tried to pull that crap in many places in the UK he would've had to deal with the police...or he might've got the shit beaten out of him. Fake knife...the intention is to threaten regardless.

He lost it. Then he appears to pull the "I'm holier than thou" bullshit above. Good lord folks like this irritate the shit out of me.

i'm 100% with the op.

just because you live in thailand doesn't mean you have to suck thai cock.

there IS a justice system working in thailand, and mostly (in it's own strange way) it works.

the guy had the right visa, the money to support himself and deserved respect from the dumb fukkr who caused the shit in the first place.
he stood up for himself and he gets my respect for that, if not for using a plastic knife instead of a baseball bat!

Originally Posted by chitown

It might be best that he leaves town.

Thai loses face = dead farang.

they feed on the fear.
most of them do not have the balls for it, and the more one backs down, the more shit one will have to eat.
just like a bunch of soidogs.

better to die as a man than have to live a life of fear, i think, but thais are not nearly as dangerous as they would like us to believe they are.

if making a thai lose face would inevitably lead to one's demise, i would have died many times already. (must admit to having had a few "close shaves" though)