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Phuket Police Probe Death of Expat Teaching Student
By Sert Tongdee Thursday, October 28, 2010
PHUKET police are investigating the shock death of a man who was studying to become an English-language teacher on Phuket.
The man, named this afternoon as Peter Williams, an American, was found in his Phuket City apartment room at the Roongrawee Mansion Hotel about 10.30pm last night.
One source close to the case told Phuketwan today that it is believed the man's mother is on her way from the US to Phuket.
The receptionist at the Roongrawee Mansion Hotel said today that she took a call about 10.30pm last night from a woman who said in English: ''Peter needs a doctor now.'' To make sure what she was hearing was correct, the receptionist waved down two female expat tenants, who happened to be passing.
One of them spoke on the telephone to the caller, the receptionist said. Then she and the two women, who knew Mr Williams, entered his room using a spare passkey. They found him dead.
Paramedics and Phuket City police officers arrived to see the man in the room with a plastic bag over his head and a cord running up and around a sturdy window, the receptionist, who did not wish to be named, confirmed today.
An empty bottle of beer and a near-empty bottle of spirits were on a bedside table.
The man, dressed only in dark shorts, was shifted to one of the two single beds in the room, but paramedics were unable to detect signs of life. It is believed he was the sole occupant of the room.
The two women helped police to search the room, eventually locating Mr Williams's passport.
At this stage, police believe there was no foul play involved in the death. A laptop and a wallet were still in the room. Police said the room was a mess, as though someone had been throwing things about.
It is not known as yet whether the woman who called the rooming apartments and spoke to the receptionist has been interviewed by police.
The tragedy is believed to have caused shock and anguish among other students at the Via Lingua English-teaching centre in the nearby Phuket City suburb of Samkong.
A spokeswoman at the teaching centre today confirmed that the man was a student. ''He arrived earlier this month. He was due to sit his final exam with other students next Monday,'' she said.
The man's body is at Vachira Hospital in Phuket City, only a few hundred metres away from the Roongrawee Mansion Hotel apartment block. Police are continuing their inquiries today.
The English teaching school, where students usually undergo short courses before applying for jobs throughout Thailand or other parts of Asia, is just a walk away from the rooming apartment block and the hospital in Phuket City's Samkong district.
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Comments
Comments have been disabled for this article.
This man had imminent plans to go out with his friends, was found with a plastic bag over his head and the passport is missing but police suspect no foul play ?
He just suddenly, out of the blue, decided to kill himself with a plastic bag - of all things, disposed off the passport and told nothing to the girls who were on their way to meet him.
I wonder what is needed for Thai police to suspect foul play when someone is found dead.
Good to see that issues like this are reported as recorded. They certainly serve as eye-openers in case someone is still living in a cocoon here.
Posted by
Mark S
on
October 28, 2010 09:30
Editor Comment:
Mark, You are jumping to conclusions. There are explanations that do not involve foul play. It's an ongoing investigation - best wait for more accurate information.
I'm sure police will be checking whether he had rented a motorbike or car. Some rental places keep the passports of their customers as 'security'.
Posted by
L
on
October 28, 2010 10:36
I'm not JUMPING to any conclusions...but based on history here....would it surprise anyone to learn that this could end up being classified as another farang suicide?
Posted by
sky
on
October 28, 2010 11:04
Editor Comment:
You mean, the history of expats jumping to conclusions that seldom have any basis in fact?
Let's mourn this young man's passing and wait for the proper process of investigation to conclude. Idle speculation serves no useful purpose.
Paranoia and persecution complexes are plentiful in some ill-informed quarters. There's seldom justification for it.
Editor, don't know where else to put this,,, you said there is no evidence of more crimes in Phuket, please have a look at the other English news paper in town, and i don't see you have reported anything about it??
Posted by
southbound
on
October 28, 2010 11:40
Editor Comment:
We've reported a lot this year about the rise in youth crime, most of it concerning drugs. This is basically the cause of a large portion of Phuket's crimes of violence. Do we need to keep going over and over this?
It would be unfair for us to portray Phuket as Crime Central, when the truth is that the vast majority of people here are law-abiding, and only a small proportion of tourists find trouble. Of late, expats have been in most danger from other expats.
No other publication has provided the details of crimes against expats and crimes allegedly committed by expats, or listed the causes of expat deaths, one by one. Those are what we class as the important statistics - and we've itemised every one so far this year.
When there's a real change for better or worse, we'll let you know - and explain it properly, too.
By the way, Phuketwan is not a newspaper. What others may or may not publish is of only passing concern to us. Likewise, what we publish is of little concern to them. If you have several sources for news, consider yourself fortunate.
So if PhuketWan is not a newspaper, is it a blog?
Posted by
Joel
on
October 28, 2010 13:06
Editor Comment:
How about ''an enthralling and indispensable account of the entire Phuket experience''?
I am not a friend of Thailand based media simply because usually Thailand based media is only 'reporting' what people say and seldom - or never- 'investigating' sensitive issues.
However, please do not pick on Phuket Wan!
So far, Phuket Wan is the only media which dares to write about certain sensitive issues and delicate issues. Other news outlets don't dare, bother or care!
Trust me friends, here in Thailand it is not that easy to write about all and everything you wish!
Phuket Wan tries very hard - harder than others - and so far more sensitive issues have been addressed and written about by Phuket Wan than any other media channel I know.
Why don't you unhappy people set up your own media and write about all your contribution to Thailand and all your complaints and concerns you have?
Posted by
Mr. K
on
October 28, 2010 16:47
A few points to clarify based on direct statements from witnesses at the scene:
1. The police have his passport. There was no unlawful entry into the room. CCTV video will confirm no one had entered the room prior to the incident.
2. The cord was not tied to the window i.e. an attempted hanging. The cord was tied only around the victim's neck.
3. The victim had retired to his room for the night without plans to go out for the evening.
The body of the story does not accurately reflect the event or comments made in the police report. Police will most certainly rule this as a suicide: not a person on person crime.
Accuracy in reporting is key: no story should be published based on speculation, imagination or otherwise.
Editor: Please name your sources to back up your comments.
Posted by
J
on
October 28, 2010 17:00
Editor Comment:
Our initial report was published as soon as possible after the event. The Phuketwan reporter was in the room with the two expat women, the police and the paramedics.
His sources are the people who were there. And he was there.
It's our policy to acknowledge free speech by allowing anonymous readers to make comments that, in other circumstances and on other sites, would never see the light of day.
If you wish to be taken seriously, J, you need to explain who you are and why you have a knowledge of the circumstances.
There are probably minor discrepancies in our initial report - there always are in cases where events are developing fast, and being reported fast.
But we believe all the core facts in our updated version are correct. If you wish to dispute the updated report, please reveal your identity before challenging our version of events.
Mr.K
I love Phuket Wan, and i don't pick on them, not what i think, i just ask because it seems like nobody will admit there is more crime, even my Thai friends say its getting worse, all of them and my GF say see it more end more in Thai news, so i just like to know whats going on here, i know very well that Phuket Wan report more on crime then the "other" and I think that's good, why keep it in the dark.
Posted by
southbound
on
October 28, 2010 21:19
i too know there are some serious mistakes in the information provided in this report. J's facts are correct and i don't need the edior's approval to take him seriously.
first it was a "six-week" course according to PW, and now it's it's a "100-hour" course; both points are wrong and when you can't even get basic, supporting facts right there's no reason to believe you can get facts of the investigation right.
Providing accurate information is great; rushing to get out information that misleads people helps no one.
Posted by
Bill
on
October 29, 2010 00:18
Editor Comment:
Bill, How do you know ''J'' is a man? Sorry, but reader comments, especially those from anonymous sources, do not constitute ''facts'' in the eyes of most readers.
We've reacted to your concern about whether the course is six weeks or 100 hours by making it ''short'' - which is accurate, if imprecise. We should have used ''short'' from the start, but the less relevant the information, the less time we spend on it.
The tag ''Updating Report'' indicates clearly that Phuketwan is still reporting an event, and that updating information may come to light. Most readers appreciate getting their news fast, not hours or days later, after the gossip has taken hold.
(moderated)
Posted by
J
on
October 29, 2010 15:36
Editor Comment:
We trust you are not planning to become a teacher anytime soon. A supercilious, nit-picking approach won't earn you the trust of students. It also appears you may need reading classes, or glasses. As I said: If you wish to dispute the updated report, please reveal your identity before challenging our version of events.
In any tragic situation like this it takes time for the facts to some out. It seems a pity some people seem to want to seize this situation to point score. What ever happened to 'if you haven't got anything nice to say......'? It's not exactly respectful towards the deceased whatever the circumstances were.
Posted by
Mister Ree
on
October 29, 2010 21:31
I am a relative of the deceased Mr Williams....there was no foul play and it was suicide...pure and simple. People who have only known him for three weeks don't know him, I as a family member knew him and knew exactly why he did what he did. His suicide has nothing to do with Phuket or any other suicide that has happened there in the past.
Posted by
Anonymous
on
October 30, 2010 09:34
Peter spent last Thanksgiving with my family in Austin. We were schoolmates since Kindergarten. He will be missed.
Posted by
Derek
on
November 1, 2010 07:43
Pete Williams was a good friend and will be dearly missed. He'd been talking about his dream of going to Phuket for a long time. I'd heard from him just five days prior, and he seemed in good spirits and was talking about the future.
This all seems very out of character for him. Pete spoke often with his friends, and openly with me. Additionally, every time I'd go out with Pete, he would always tell me how he hated alcohol. "It's such a harsh drug. It's a poison, you know," he'd tell me.
He never touched spirits once in all the time I spent with him. Given what I know about him, if he was really down and wanted an escape via, he would NOT have chosen alcohol to do it. This, as well as the chosen method, seem extremely unusual. I would be much less suspicious if they'd found him ODed on something else.
Another article reports that he told "friends" he had an "incurable disease," and that that was the suspected reason for this. I knew him for much longer than anybody in Phuket with him. That never came up even once. Chronic pain never came up at all.
I'll be honest, this reads like a typical suicide article, but as somebody that knew him, it reads like it was written about somebody else.
Posted by
Josh E
on
November 2, 2010 01:00
Editor Comment:
Is there such a thing as a typical suicide? Often, depression strikes with great speed. Positive people can suddenly lose their drive, especially amid trauma and in unfamiliar surroundings. The 'chronic pain' aspect is something our reporters also did not encounter. But photographs do show the presence of bottles of alcohol.
I did not mean to imply that a suicide could ever be typical, only a report of it. To be fair, at the time I had written the above I had recently read another article which had a great deal more speculation in it. Your article is conservative in its declaration of facts and is much more professional.
This is truly a tragic end to a good man. Some information that couldn't have been known at the time the article was authored has answered all of the questions of what happened. He will be missed by many.
Posted by
Josh
on
November 4, 2010 00:55
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This man had imminent plans to go out with his friends, was found with a plastic bag over his head and the passport is missing but police suspect no foul play ?
He just suddenly, out of the blue, decided to kill himself with a plastic bag - of all things, disposed off the passport and told nothing to the girls who were on their way to meet him.
I wonder what is needed for Thai police to suspect foul play when someone is found dead.
Good to see that issues like this are reported as recorded. They certainly serve as eye-openers in case someone is still living in a cocoon here.
Posted by Mark S on October 28, 2010 09:30
Editor Comment:
Mark, You are jumping to conclusions. There are explanations that do not involve foul play. It's an ongoing investigation - best wait for more accurate information.