PHUKET'S sea eagles man has been sentenced to 13 years and four months' jail for killing a German expat resident last year in a fit of road rage, Phuketwan has learned.

The 66-year-old expat resident and the sea eagles man continued their traffic dispute by wrestling outside a 7-Eleven store in southern Phuket and in the scuffle, the expat was stabbed to death.

A judge at Phuket Provincial Court handed down the sentence on Pittaya Srijitraporn, 33, on December 16, said Thasnee Kesselheim, whose husband Wolf-Dieter was killed.

Mrs Kesselheim remains sad about the tragedy, but relieved that justice has been done. The original sentence, she said, was 20 years in jail, but the presiding judge reduced the term by one third because Pittaya admitted the killing.

He pleaded that he had acted in self defence. Mr Kesselheim, a much larger man, had been holding him in a headlock at the time. However, the judge said that in pulling the knife and stabbing Mr Kesselheim twice in the ribs, Pittaya went beyond self defence.

The killing on January 27 last year shocked both expat residents, tourists and Thais on Phuket. Pittaya was well known as the sea eagles man who posed his two large birds for photographs at Kata Viewpoint, with seascapes over Karon and Patong in the background.

Khun Thasnee, 53, said there is a civil case pending. She hopes to recover the 80,000 baht cost of her husband's cremation, but she has no plans to pursue Pittaya for more substantial financial compensation.

''My husband's death was such a shock,'' she said, sitting in the peaceful garden of the home the couple shared south of Phuket City.

''He had a lot of German pals and every Wednesday he would have a Men-only night. He would head out after having one gin and tonic, and play snooker with friends in Rawai.''

That night, Mr Kesselheim's regular companion on the road south was picking up another friend from abroad, so Mr Kesselheim made the journey alone.

Pittaya told police and the media later that as he approached Chalong Circle about 7pm that Wednesday night, with two nephews as pillion passengers on his pink Fino motorcycle, a car driver sounded his horn when the motorcycle passed.

At the circle, while both the motorcycle and the car waited alongside each other for other vehicles to pass, the car horn continued to sound. The driver of the vehicle swore at him through the open window.

Pittaya said both the motorcycle and the car turned around the circle from Chao Fa Road West into Viset Road, bound south for Rawai.

The tooting continued from the car, until Pittaya pulled his motorcycle in front of the car, forcing the vehicle to stop outside a 7-Eleven store.

The man had been drinking, Pittaya said, and swore ''F---- you'' in English. Pittaya said he hit the man in the mouth.

The man tried to hit him back, Pittaya said. The man got him in a headlock, so he pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed the man twice in the ribs.

When the man fell, he kicked him in the mouth, Pittaya said. He acted alone and his nephews had not been involved.

Khun Thasnee finds it hard to believe that Wolf-Dieter, the kind, loving man she met 20 years ago in Bangkok and married in Germany, could have lapsed into road rage.

But she does say that he certainly did get angry about the behavior of others in traffic.

''We had a very pleasant life together,'' she said, sitting in the grounds where her husband did the gardening virtually every day. She runs a shop there, serving fruit drinks and shakes to teachers and students from a neighboring school.

She talks with passion about how she and her husband began visiting Phuket from Bangkok about 10 years ago, and how they bought the house four years later, when he retired from his job as an executive in aircraft sales.

She's still in regular contact with Mr Kesselheim's two grown-up daughters, who were regular visitors.

The anniversary of her husband's death is fast approaching, but at least justice has been achieved.

And Wolf-Dieter's treasured garden remains all around her. ''I plan to stay here,'' she said. ''My friends come to visit. I do still wish that my husband was still here, though, to enjoy it with me.''