Australian jailed for stealing a barmat

[Dinosaur]

Saw the PM on CNN this morning saying how he's going to boost tourism, infrastructure etc then read this one in the Phuket Gazette.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/news/index.asp?id=7377

I really don't know what to say. Wonder if we'll be able to sell our villa

[Lili Von Shtupp]

I would laugh at the ridiculousness of it if this woman didn't have FOUR CHILDREN waiting for Mummy to come home. The whole story makes me queasy.

[Dinosaur]

The whole story makes me queasy.

Me too.

[Lili Von Shtupp]

PK, I just read another news report about it and it said she was belligerent with the officers, resisted arrest and mouthed off to everyone at the police station up to the Chief of Police. Why do people have to do this on holiday? And why can't the police just put her in the cool down tank and let her sleep it off? As if she's Phuket's very first drunken belligerent in a pub. Sheesh.

[Fat Bob]

I would laugh at the ridiculousness of it if this woman didn't have FOUR CHILDREN waiting for Mummy to come home. The whole story makes me queasy.

Oh, pull on the heart-strings more will ya!

Are we hearing the full story? How much abuse did she give the police when she was nabbed? In another report it says quite clearly that she was drunk. Not wanting to sterotype (and managing to do it anyhow!), but drunken aussie girls aren't the quietest girls around.

[Fat Bob]

Ah, yes, second story down:
"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 (owner of the Aussie bar) said.

[daffodil]

This has nothing to do with stealing a beermat and everything to do with insulting / abusing the local authorities which clearly is not taken lightly in Thailand.

Shame such intolerance of loutish behaviour towards the police doesn't get the same treatment back In Australia!

Time to own up, apologise and she will be back home with tail between her legs.

[Snaffled]

That's what I heard also. Very drunk, ran away, mouthed off to the police when they caught her, verbally abused the police chief at the station.
Not sure what the truth is, but I'm not sure that the Thai police arrest & lock up polite Australians for no reason...

[Lili Von Shtupp]

You know, I normally would feel cynical about it myself, because I get tired of people breaking the law on holiday and boo-hooing to their home embassies to just clear it all away. People who get caught with drugs, for example. I think for certain countries those laws are pretty cut and dried and clearly stated at the point of entry. But, think about Phuket, parts of which feel downright lawless, with prostitutes, go-go bars, public drunkenness, all rampant and out in the open. Thailand makes a lot of money promoting a Cowboy Town image. I can forgive a foreigner, with no introduction to Thai culture, for thinking that these people might be a little relaxed about the letter of the law, upon first glance.

What this lady did would get her a few hours in the drunk tank if she were, say, in South Beach Florida or Tijuana Mexico. Drunk and disorderly. Next!

I guess I'm just getting a little bit tired of touchy Thai feelings. There are some things that are offensive to Thai people that a foreigner would never, ever be able to glean through casual observation.

Was she out of line (and stupid)? Absolutely. Was it such a heinous offense as to warrant the type of treatment she's gotten? I really don't think so.

[Addadude]

Well Lili, I for one would never abuse a Thai copper - or a Singapore one for that matter. No matter how drunk I was, sheer survival instincts would tell that this would NOT be a good idea. (Come to think of it, it would not be a good idea to abuse a member of the Garda Síochána (Irish police force) either...) And I can't imagine that an Australian copper would smile indulgently at her tirade and send her on her way.

This to me is a common sense issue. And she clearly doesn't have any. Thailand is Thailand and it ain't going to change anytime soon.

[Dinosaur]

Well I'm with Lili on this one. If you want to attract those who want a drunken good time on holiday (and at some point in our lives we all do this, don't we) then you've got to make some allowances OR if you want to attract a different kind of tourist then change things... scrap the girlie bars etc. You cannot have it both ways it seems to me, but that's what they try to do.

[baloo]

Well Lili, I for one would never abuse a Thai copper - or a Singapore one for that matter. No matter how drunk I was, sheer survival instincts would tell that this would NOT be a good idea. (Come to think of it, it would not be a good idea to abuse a member of the Garda Síochána (Irish police force) either...) And I can't imagine that an Australian copper would smile indulgently at her tirade and send her on her way.

Have to agree with Adda here. Survival instincts kick in and the minute the boys in blue turn up it's time to stop being an idiot and treat them with the respect they command. Can't say I have ever had angry words with a policeman.

[skank-la]

These days you act like that around police here in LA area they will execute you on sight.

[Morrolan]

agree with Addadude and baloo, i don't see why it would be ok to verbally abuse the Thai police and then accuse the Thai of having 'touchy feelings'. insulting or abusing an officer of the law is a criminal offence in most Western countries as well.

and if you're the kind of person who doesn't know how to behave or control ones emotions when under the influence then maybe he/she will learn something from a bit of jail.

[Morrolan]

"We were women on our own and we didn't have a man here to talk to the police and deal a bribe," she said.

"If we had, that would have been the end of it. We offered them money right from the start because we knew that's how the system works here."

obviously, that's not how the system works, you stupid bogan.

and how smart are you to bring this out in the press while you're still stuck in the country? she's now admitted to a criminal offence (yes, even under Thai law).

[daffodil]

[
obviously, that's not how the system works, you stupid bogan

How long have you been an Aussie??

But yes, agree with most here - the woman behaved inappropriately so stop with the whinging about the unfairness of the system and get on with it. Which is the viewpoint of the majority of Australians too from what I've seen.

[Fyn]

She should have done her homework before leaving for a holiday. Unlike Australia, there are countries out there that do not put up with belligerent behaviour, drunk or not. Some would even take your hand for stealing.

[baloo]

Sadly there are many people who when they travel only for short holidays and find the infrastructure to be inferior, they develop a superiority complex. All races, all nations. Aussies in Bali & Phuket, Singaporean in China and anywhere there is a food buffet, English in Majorca & Greek Isles, Germans, Austrians and gary Glitter in Vietnam, Yanks in Mexico etc.

Not much you can do about it except hike airfares so the ignorant masses can't afford to fly.

[Morrolan]

Sadly there are many people who when they travel only for short holidays and find the infrastructure to be inferior, they develop a superiority complex. All races, all nations. Aussies in Bali & Phuket, Singaporean in China and anywhere there is a food buffet, English in Majorca & Greek Isles, Germans, Austrians and gary Glitter in Vietnam, Yanks in Mexico etc.

[Dinosaur]

A lot of good viewpoints stated by everyone I think. I think most people on this board understand how it is in Thailand but, Fyn is right, clearly this Aussie lady did not do her homework. It doesn't make it right of course - and I guess that is my beef. Anyways.... it's another day here in Paradise (sic)

[Lili Von Shtupp]

She was drunk, so she was most likely judgement impaired. Police officers who work at vacation resorts should be able to tell the difference between a drunk housewife who thinks she's invinceable because she's on holiday and someone who acts in violence towards police and others and poses a major threat. Toss her in jail for the night, fine her, slap her on the wrist, these are fitting to the crime. I think it is ridiculous to invite foreigners to your Cowboy Town and profit from their carousing, and not train your police force to handle some of the expected outcomes in a sensible manner.

I believe that we are all coming from the logic that she was a mouthy, classless Australian woman who deserved it. And, yes, I'm shaking my head at her stupidity like everybody else. But can there be equal logic that says that - it is not unheard of for police the world round to abuse their power and go overboard? Is it also not unheard of for police in developing countries to accept cash to let people off the hook? (And that there is most definitely a subtle art to it that escapes your average westerner? )

It's popular right now to condemn the classless foreigner who breaks laws while overseas on holiday. I just question if this incident, which was a misdemeanor, should have escalated to the point that it has, and if it is as much the fault of the Thai police for blowing it out of proportion as it is the fault of the Australian tourist for being utterly stupid.

But, I already know that I'm alone in my thinking, here. Ah well, que sera sera.

[Scrummy Mummy]

I agree with you, actually, but can't be arsed to argue. Yes, she may have been a bit daft (haven't we all!) but 14 weeks in jail until trial is a huge over-reaction.

[baloo]

Really it depends on how she really acted, what she said and to who in the police force, and how sick and tired the local police are of mouthy drunk foreigners.

She should count her lucky stars that she didn't slander the King because she'd end up like that Aussie journalist she read about in the papers back home who got locked up for what many Australians considered a very trivial incident.

[Morrolan]

I agree with you, actually, but can't be arsed to argue. Yes, she may have been a bit daft (haven't we all!) but 14 weeks in jail until trial is a huge over-reaction.

sorry, but she's not in jail. she's only been in the lock-up for 4 days. there is a possible 14 week wait period before she has to go to court, which period she spends outside of jail.

it seems some are forgetting that by her own admission she tried several times to bribe the police to let her go... that, aside from the abuse, is a serious offence in any country.

[Lili Von Shtupp]

sorry, but she's not in jail. she's only been in the lock-up for 4 days. there is a possible 14 week wait period before she has to go to court, which period she spends outside of jail.

14 weeks held in a foreign country with no passport. That's about three and a half months.

it seems some are forgetting that by her own admission she tried several times to bribe the police to let her go... that, aside from the abuse, is a serious offence in any country.

Holy Crap! Somebody actually tried to bribe a Thai police officer? Call Ripley's Believe It or Not! C'mon, show me a Thai police officer who has never accepted a bribe. And tell me that thousands before her have never tried and thousands in the future won't succeed.