PHUKET: An Australian man stabbed with a bottle in a dispute in Patong has left Thailand, Phuketwan learned today.
It's believed officers from Kathu Police Station, which oversees Patong, are taking no further action over the incident in which a Thai schoolboy was also stabbed with a broken bottle.
Both stabbing victims received hospital treatment for their wounds, inflicted in a late night altercation in beach road.
The Australian and a friend were making their way back to a resort from Soi Bangla about 11pm when they encountered three schoolboys from Phuket City Technical College in beach road.
What caused the dispute and the precise details of the stabbing are not known.
Kathu Police Superintendent Colonel Jirapat Palchanaphan has not been keen to discuss the incident and switched off his mobile telephone when contacted by a Phuketwan reporter today.
Following the unsolved double murder of British tourists Hannah Witheridge and David Miller on Koh Tao, police in Patong and some other parts of Phuket seem especially keen these days to not disclose details of unsavory incidents.
What police should bear in mind is that if journalists do find out about incidents through unofficial means, then officers can often appear in a bad light.
Several years ago, when the Phuket honorary consuls met regularly with Phuket's governor to frankly discuss all issues, police always produced a summary of all incidents involving foreigners as perpetrators and victims.
Lately the honorary consuls' meetings have been held less frequently and the lists, if provided at all, have been scrappy and incomplete.
Given the choice between attempts to cover up unsavory incidents and full and frank disclosure, we believe that the National Council for Peace and Order has made it plain that the government favors full and frank disclosure over coverups.
Phuketwan suggests that the new Phuket Governor and the new Phuket Police Commander, who both start work this week, openly express a desire to all Phuket police to be as frank and honest about all troubling incidents as possible.
It's believed officers from Kathu Police Station, which oversees Patong, are taking no further action over the incident in which a Thai schoolboy was also stabbed with a broken bottle.
Both stabbing victims received hospital treatment for their wounds, inflicted in a late night altercation in beach road.
The Australian and a friend were making their way back to a resort from Soi Bangla about 11pm when they encountered three schoolboys from Phuket City Technical College in beach road.
What caused the dispute and the precise details of the stabbing are not known.
Kathu Police Superintendent Colonel Jirapat Palchanaphan has not been keen to discuss the incident and switched off his mobile telephone when contacted by a Phuketwan reporter today.
Following the unsolved double murder of British tourists Hannah Witheridge and David Miller on Koh Tao, police in Patong and some other parts of Phuket seem especially keen these days to not disclose details of unsavory incidents.
What police should bear in mind is that if journalists do find out about incidents through unofficial means, then officers can often appear in a bad light.
Several years ago, when the Phuket honorary consuls met regularly with Phuket's governor to frankly discuss all issues, police always produced a summary of all incidents involving foreigners as perpetrators and victims.
Lately the honorary consuls' meetings have been held less frequently and the lists, if provided at all, have been scrappy and incomplete.
Given the choice between attempts to cover up unsavory incidents and full and frank disclosure, we believe that the National Council for Peace and Order has made it plain that the government favors full and frank disclosure over coverups.
Phuketwan suggests that the new Phuket Governor and the new Phuket Police Commander, who both start work this week, openly express a desire to all Phuket police to be as frank and honest about all troubling incidents as possible.
Don't Kathu Police have an incident book?
Posted by Pete on September 30, 2014 14:11
Editor Comment:
If you mean an incident book where members of the public can access information . . . you have to be kidding.