PHUKET: The trial of two Swedish men charged with killing a countryman on Phuket did not proceed today when two key witnesses failed to attend the hearing at Phuket Provincial Court.
Maksim Schantz was stabbed in the throat and later died from the wound when the men, two of them former business partners, scuffled outside Shantz's luxurious rented apartment at The Lantern in Phuket City on August 1, 2011.
Tommy Viktor Suderlund and Johan Sebastian Ljung, both 27, fled the scene on a commandeered motorcycle but were arrested within 24 hours.
The pair gave evidence in court back in December and today a policeman and a doctor were scheduled to be interviewed. However, the two witnesses failed to appear.
The presiding judge was informed that the prosecutor had told court officials he was away on holiday and a deputy was in charge of the case, but the court had not heard from Police Lieutenant Nanon Pitakkulthorn or Dr Surapong Sorjalern, of Vachira Phuket Hospital, in Phuket City.
The hearing was postponed until November.
Today, outside Phuket Provincial Court, Yvonne Schantz, the mother of the dead man, said she was becoming concerned that she would never learn the truth about the killing of her son.
''I have tried to call the policeman and the doctor many times, but there has been no answer,'' she said. ''Why does nobody want to give evidence in my son's case?''
The two Swedes have pleaded not guilty to murder and insisted that killing Schantz was never their intention. They had come to Phuket from Pattaya to talk to Schantz, who allegedly stole a list of potential Swedish victims of a call centre scam being operated from Pattaya and owed Suderland three million baht.
As Schantz bled to death, the two men allegedly fled through a back fence, ordering a local resident to surrender his motorcycle. They were arrested the next day in Cherng Talay, in Phuket's north.
Mrs Schantz said today outside the court that the knife wound only penetrated three centimetres into the neck of her son, so she was anxious to learn whether his death was deliberate or an accident.
The two men face charges of conspiracy to murder; possession of a handgun and seven bullets with no permit; possession of a handgun in a public area; threatening use of as knife in a public area; theft of a motorcycle.
The pair appeared in court today in shackles and have been held in Phuket Provincial Prison since their arrest.
Maksim Schantz was stabbed in the throat and later died from the wound when the men, two of them former business partners, scuffled outside Shantz's luxurious rented apartment at The Lantern in Phuket City on August 1, 2011.
Tommy Viktor Suderlund and Johan Sebastian Ljung, both 27, fled the scene on a commandeered motorcycle but were arrested within 24 hours.
The pair gave evidence in court back in December and today a policeman and a doctor were scheduled to be interviewed. However, the two witnesses failed to appear.
The presiding judge was informed that the prosecutor had told court officials he was away on holiday and a deputy was in charge of the case, but the court had not heard from Police Lieutenant Nanon Pitakkulthorn or Dr Surapong Sorjalern, of Vachira Phuket Hospital, in Phuket City.
The hearing was postponed until November.
Today, outside Phuket Provincial Court, Yvonne Schantz, the mother of the dead man, said she was becoming concerned that she would never learn the truth about the killing of her son.
''I have tried to call the policeman and the doctor many times, but there has been no answer,'' she said. ''Why does nobody want to give evidence in my son's case?''
The two Swedes have pleaded not guilty to murder and insisted that killing Schantz was never their intention. They had come to Phuket from Pattaya to talk to Schantz, who allegedly stole a list of potential Swedish victims of a call centre scam being operated from Pattaya and owed Suderland three million baht.
As Schantz bled to death, the two men allegedly fled through a back fence, ordering a local resident to surrender his motorcycle. They were arrested the next day in Cherng Talay, in Phuket's north.
Mrs Schantz said today outside the court that the knife wound only penetrated three centimetres into the neck of her son, so she was anxious to learn whether his death was deliberate or an accident.
The two men face charges of conspiracy to murder; possession of a handgun and seven bullets with no permit; possession of a handgun in a public area; threatening use of as knife in a public area; theft of a motorcycle.
The pair appeared in court today in shackles and have been held in Phuket Provincial Prison since their arrest.
''I have tried to call the policeman and the doctor many times, but there has been no answer,'' she said. ''Why does nobody want to give evidence in my son's case?''
err... Make you wonder doesn't it!
Posted by Nick on August 14, 2012 15:39