Australian mother faces jail over suspected theft of bar mat in coughet, Thailand

[NM]

Yes, the one that runs along the top of the bar.

Desperate folks can take it back to their hotel room and wring it out for a night cap :shock:

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Those of us that have travelled in Asia (or at least bothered to read up before travelling) know that in places like Thailand that yelling etc is considered very rude and a loss of face for the person you are yelling at.

Doing it to authority figures such as the Police is only more so.

Her yelling at Police effectively would have forced the Police to not let her off with a warning.

I also note that the owner of the bar is an Aussie...and he in backing the police version.

 

[garee]

Part of an article from the coughet Gazette. I think it may be a case of a few too many drinks and abusing the Thai authorities.

Ms Smoel has been charged with "night-time theft" and imprisoned for four days. Thailand makes a distinction between daytime and nighttime thefts, with the latter seen as more serious under Thai law.

The owner of the Aussie Bar, Steve Wood, said Ms Smoel had been abusive toward the undercover police who had stopped her in the bar.

"When they talked to her all they wanted to do was chastise her, and they usually let you go, but she did a runner on them... the police had to chase her down the beach," Mr Wood said.

"When they took her back to the police station, she continued to abuse everyone at the police station including the chief of police and I think this is what the problem is.

"It's more of an attitude problem than a crime problem.

Bar Owner Mr Wood has not pressed charges.

Ms Smoel insisted she was innocent of the theft which was committed by a friend, as a prank. She confessed to the police but was told to go away.

"I have been treated unfairly and held here for something I didn't do,"

"They know I didn't do it; they have video evidence and one of the girls who was involved went down to the police on Sunday morning and confessed to the crime and apologised – and they told her to go away. They didn't care."

Police confiscated Ms Smoel's passport.

Ms Smoel is required to report to local authorities in coughet every two weeks as a condition of bail and it is expected to be 14 weeks before her case is heard in court.

Her lawyer Bernard Murphy says she has been told she could face two to five years in jail if found guilty of "night-time theft."

 

[samh004]

The inset here has a similar mat:

To be fair, it is a nice bar mat.

 

[simongr]

I wonder if part of the reason that teh innkeeper is supporting the police is that he knows he is going to be in Thailand needing their help more than some p1ssed up tourist...

I think that there are some really bad messages coming out here - it's acceptable to steal "if it's just for a prank"...

There are frequent ads on television about understanding the culture of where you are going before you go there. I just hope the tax payer doesnt end up paying the bill if she gets jailed and repatriated here...

 

[Keith009]

Hmm, what a nutter. I think she deserves a good scare.

The Aussie Bar (a few doors down from the Ned Kelly bar I believe)... I spent most of my time there when I visited coughet 2 yrs ago. Glad to hear it's still going. Sadly, I can confirm that the likes of Annice Smoel is far from unique in coughet...

 

[NM]

Saving bar mat 'thief' will be tough - Rudd

Another media report from News.com.au:

CONSULAR officials are helping an Australian woman facing a five-year prison sentence in Thailand for allegedly stealing a bar mat, but Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said it will be "tough".

Mr Rudd told The Daily Telegraph that consular officials were giving Annice Smoel "practical'' support while working toward "as speedy a conclusion as possible''.

"These are difficult cases,'' he said.

 

[futaris]

Return to coughet turns into holiday from hell

Return to coughet turns into holiday from hell

 

[turtlemichael]

Yes, the one that runs along the top of the bar.

Isn't that the ping pong girl?

 

[tuapekastar]

Isn't that the ping pong girl?

That's a dreadful thing to say turtlemichael. It's table tennis, not ping pong!

 

[garee]

Return to coughet turns into holiday from hell

' Geoff Strong SMH

May 20, 2009 - 3:38PM
It seemed like a good idea to return to paradise. That was the memory a Melbourne-based American couple had of the Thai holiday island coughet where they used to live.
When they did return for a short holiday early last month, it became a holiday in hell.
After a night in prison plus $60,000 in mysterious payments through a Kafkaesque legal system, it was a very expensive hell too.
Logan Hesse and Urica Lopez met in coughet four years ago where they were both working.
In May 2007, the house they were living in burnt down while they were out to dinner with friends.
Mr Hesse says police investigators told them at the time the cause was an electrical fault.
Soon afterwards, they left Thailand to come to Melbourne where they were enrolled as students at La Trobe University.
He believes such cases are due to a tourism downturn because of the global financial crisis and recent civil unrest.
These had bitten into the usual source of "supplementary income" for coughet's police and other officials, Mr Hesse claims.
"Their pockets are lighter so they are turning on tourists," he said.
Mr Hesse said nothing more had been heard about their house fire until they arrived at Bangkok last month. They were immediately detained and their passports were confiscated by police who told them a coughet arrest warrant was outstanding for "criminal damage".
The costs started piling up from that point.
The couple were expected to cover the $265 price of an air ticket for a police officer to accompany them on to their island destination.
In coughet, they were refused permission to speak directly to the US embassy and were slapped in jail for the night.
Their problems were compounded by arriving at the start of the Thai New Year, when all officaldom shuts down for a week.
Although the initial police investigation found an electrical fault was the cause of the fire, a subsequent report some months later changed the cause to a cigarette, even thought they were out at the time.
The house owner was pursuing them for $60,000 in a civil action.
Under Thai law, the civil action had to be resolved before any criminal trial could take place, so they were unable to leave.
Mr Hesse said this could have meant waiting in Thailand for years with no source of income.
The lawyer who claimed he had been appointed by the US embassy then tried to pocket $7000 until they made a fuss in his office.
The pair then negotiated with the house owner to reduce his claim to $50,000 and a further $1500 went to the police to have the matter heard expeditiously.
"In court the judges didn't even speak to us. We just had to hand over a wad of money to the landlord and we were fined 10,000 baht ($380) for criminal damage," Mr Hesse said.
"We were never able to find if the house was insured.
"I think the landlord was able to organise a second fire investigation, either because he had no insurance or he was under pressure from the bank.
"They knew we would come back because we had friends [in Thailand]."

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I note that her Australian based Lawyer has now changed his tune....and desisted with his vitriol.

Obviously someone has advised him that "yelling" is offensive behaviour over there.....and that also his silly comments in Oz would hinder his clients case and not assist it.

 

[Hvr]

May 21, 2009 - 7:15PM
Melbourne woman Annice Smoel has been released from detention in Thailand and is free to travel home, according to reports in coughet.
The coughet Wan website says Ms Smoel, who faced five years in jail for allegedly stealing a bar mat, was given a six-month suspended jail term and a 1,000 baht ($30) fine for theft.
It said the ruling came on Wednesday at provincial court in coughet City.

Hopefully people will learn to respect local laws and especially customs. Face is not uniquely Asian, we all want to be respected. Abusing police in any jurisdiction is always bad and will lead to bad things happening.

I am sure we will soon see her mug on the front of no idea magazine or something similar selling her story for thousands of dollars.

 

[drron]

What was also reported in Bangkok today were the comments of the Victorian premier who felt the ludicrous treatment of this woman would harm Thai tourism.More certain is his remarks will hurt Australian tourism which in coming years will rely more and more on Asia.

 

[turtlemichael]

Hopefully people will learn to respect local laws and especially customs. Face is not uniquely Asian, we all want to be respected. Abusing police in any jurisdiction is always bad and will lead to bad things happening.

I am sure we will soon see her mug on the front of no idea magazine or something similar selling her story for thousands of dollars.

Next issue is how much will A Current Affair pay her for the full goss on her stay in the hell hole that is Thailand.

 

[JohnK]

My first reaction was "do the Thais want tourists or not?". I now think "no one wants the sort of tourist being described in the additional information".

I don't know the woman involved but she perfectly fits a stereotype of the type of tourists that would go to places like Bali, coughet etc. Married woman with 4 young daughters going to coughet with her friends to drink be merry and get up to mischief.

First rule about going overseas is to do research on the place you are going to visit especially if the culture is not Western culture. Second rule is that if you cannot handle alcohol do not drink. Thai people are generally very tolerant and forgiving but they also deserve to be respected. If you are rude or abusive towards them they can easily turn against you and I have witnessed this a number of times.

Reading the second story is very scary and is almost enough to sway someone from going to Thailand.