R.I.P.

As sad as it is, it would feel not so dangerous, when it would be a hit on him, and not a random act of crazy violence.

Beating up and knifing an old man. This Japanese guy comes to mind.

Posted by Lena on Thursday January 28, 2010 at 01:14

A waste of life, RIP... absolutely disgraceful behavior

Posted by Tbs on Thursday January 28, 2010 at 03:15

Sure glad PhuketWan has stopped referring to western expats as, "Farang". Accepted use of a slang term denoting race just reinforces the, " Us against Them.." mentality.

Editor: We haven't stopped using the term ''farang'' and will use it again where it is essential to the context of the report. In most cases, it carries no negative connotations. On the other hand, ''foreigner'' and ''alien'' imply that the person has no right to be present, and we seldom use those terms I don't intend to reopen this debate in the midst of a tragedy. Your comment has been edited to remove the supposition and guesswork.

Posted by Phuketarium on Thursday January 28, 2010 at 08:18

Bye bye Phuket and all you knew to be good. Welcome to the bad lands and no more tourists, the tour agents around the world are watching and advising: stay away from Phuket.

Posted by A non on Thursday January 28, 2010 at 12:30

I was also chased by two young men in a pick up truck several months ago . They stopped my car and threatened me with a knife . The days of the land of smiles are long gone. Just drive around and look at all the angry young faces .

Posted by Lord Jim on Thursday January 28, 2010 at 12:30

Editor: Sorry Phuketarium/ Horse Doctor/ Jim Kirk / Mediawatcher / Thai Weary/ Thai Wary / Expat Coroner / etc etc / this is a tragic event that I will not allow you to hijack.

Posted by Phuketarium on Thursday January 28, 2010 at 13:36

Yes you have to be careful as mob mentality rules in many situations.

You may have to flee in a bad situation to a police station and make a lot of noise for police to come out.If people are after you and outside your vehicle.

You may have to use your vehicle as a weapon to protect your self. I learned a long time ago in Thailand not to confront angry people.

I once hit a man who was walking along the road and suddenly turned thinking the sound of my tires were the local bus coming he turned and ran in front of my car as I was driving to Bangkok.

I got out of my car but could not find the mans body in the long grass as the grass was very long a crowd gathered and they were talking about killing us. I found the mans body and he was still alive but in a coma I put him in my car and drove him to a hospital and then went to a police station to report the accident.

I will never forget the people starting to get angry even though they didn't know what had happened.

You have to be very careful!

Posted by old timer on Thursday January 28, 2010 at 14:07

My daughter and husband also had an extremely scary situation with a black pick up a couple of months ago when driving along Wiset rd from the circle towards Rawai - I'd never known my husband to be scared ever and he was really shaken by the aggression and that they were not going to give up - they eventually turned around and headed in the opposite direction after being followed, forced off the road etc etc and the car pulled over and stopped for a while...they took another way home, but were very very shaken when they got home. Is there a gang operating in the area as it sounds like the same people as 'Lord Jim' ? We now carry 'mace' with us at all times and have it in the car also...

Posted by Fiona on Thursday January 28, 2010 at 15:36

Allow me to quote:

"The days of the land of smiles are long gone. Just drive around and look at all the angry young faces"

The faces here in Bangkok are the same, and since it's still forbidden for Thai's to fight Thais, when life is too hard, we, the expats get the blame, and feel the fire lurking under the polished facade.

The best advise is to avoid confrontation, everywhere, in traffic, when walking, even in Big C, Seven-11 etc., when someone jumps the queue.

Posted by Jens on Thursday January 28, 2010 at 15:39

Editor, I hope you can comment on this. I'm sure like most of your readers, when a story of this magnitude occurs, we go on a search to find more information. I think like many I know, that PhuketWan.com is generally regarded as the most accurate and comprehensive source of information, but we all cross reference with your immediate competitors, (including translations of Thai language news sites) like any astute person would do.

Can you explain the disparity in the facts, that sometimes beggars belief? How can your readers be made comfortable that PhuketWan.com is the most accurate of the lot? Especially when the differences in stories is supposed to come from the same source. I'm sure you have also done the same, so I don't need to comment on the disparities. Sorry trying not to hijack this thread, but living in Chalong, we deserve accurate truths as to what actually happened, first time, every time.

Editor: Understood. I've been intending to write a Planet Phuket column about news-gathering in Thailand but of late there has been too much to gather. Good reporters, training and experience make a big difference anywhere. Gathering news in one language and publishing it in another increases the degree of difficulty. Poor translations are often a factor in major discrepancies. Being fast AND accurate is not easy anywhere. If we do make a serious blunder, we undertake to correct it. We don't bury our mistakes.

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday January 28, 2010 at 16:54

How many people out there are tired of these sort of murders? If 20 of us put 5,000 baht that's 100,000 baht up each to be paid for information leading to the arrest and conviction of these punks. I bet some one will come forward real quick with the information.

We could put signs on all the electric poles and in all the stores in English and Thai.

This would get the point across to people In Rawai, Chalong, Ban Kon Te, that were not going to take it any more and going to fight back.

It might make people start to think.

Although youths in the heat of passion carrying knives know no reason.

Editor: Most residents, Thai and expat, would see this death as an unfortunate tragedy. The police were quick to make an arrest, so there was no problem with the speed of reaction. ''Fighting back'' is an inappropriate response, as this case demonstrates. Showing care and consideration for others may be a better option.

Posted by old timer on Sunday January 31, 2010 at 00:44

As lovely a life as it CAN be on Phuket we should still remember that we are in somebody else's country and therefore things are dealt with differently. Also that respect needs to come from BOTH sides to make a more comfortable and happy life.

Posted by Anonymous on Monday February 1, 2010 at 11:01