PHUKET: Family and friends of Phuket murder victim Dashawn Longfellow have held a candlelight vigil at the high school where he graduated in 2005.
The evening vigil in Norman, Oklahoma, was to keep his memory alive. It comes as the murder trial of Lee Aldhouse, the first person extradited from Britain to Thailand, draws closer.
Longfellow, 23, was stabbed to death in August 2010 in an ambush after he and Aldhouse, now 29, brawled in a bar in southern Phuket. Both men were Thai kick boxing practitioners.
Longfellow, a former Marine, served in Afghanistan and Iraq and was regarded as a hero by his family.
His mother Tammy told local television's News Channel 4 that she did not want people to forget her son ''and I'm scared after this, they might.''
Relative Sabre Anderson said the family was heartened by the historic extradition of Aldhouse and now hoping for justice: ''It was really bittersweet.''
''He was always smiling,'' Anderson said. ''He was just a great guy. He was protective. He would give the shirt off his back to anybody. He was just a great guy and he was a hero.''
Mother Tammy said: ''He did two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan. He made it. To go over to train something he loved to do, he got murdered for it? It's not fair.''
Aldhouse, from Birmingham, is also the first Briton to be extradited to Thailand since the Human Rights Act came into force 12 years ago.
One estimate says his court case and prison costs are have cost the British taxpayer around 100,000 pounds. Thai officials spared no expense in making sure he was returned to Phuket for trial.
Four officials - Intranee Sumawong, Executive Director of International Affairs at the Attorney General's Department, prosecutor Panumas Ajalaboon, Police Colonel Sinard Ajhawong and Police Colonel Kecha Sukkapirom - accompanied Aldhouse on the flight back to Thailand.
Aldhouse admits stabbing Longhouse but denies the killing was planned. Footage from a convenience store security camera shows him scooping up two knives as short time before the attack.
Now in Phuket Prison on remand, Aldhouse is due to appear in court later this week. The case against him was prepared long ago and has been presented in several British courts.
Whether his Phuket trial begins before New Year probably depends on whether DNA tests matching Aldhouse's saliva with blood samples found at the scene of the killing have been completed.
The evening vigil in Norman, Oklahoma, was to keep his memory alive. It comes as the murder trial of Lee Aldhouse, the first person extradited from Britain to Thailand, draws closer.
Longfellow, 23, was stabbed to death in August 2010 in an ambush after he and Aldhouse, now 29, brawled in a bar in southern Phuket. Both men were Thai kick boxing practitioners.
Longfellow, a former Marine, served in Afghanistan and Iraq and was regarded as a hero by his family.
His mother Tammy told local television's News Channel 4 that she did not want people to forget her son ''and I'm scared after this, they might.''
Relative Sabre Anderson said the family was heartened by the historic extradition of Aldhouse and now hoping for justice: ''It was really bittersweet.''
''He was always smiling,'' Anderson said. ''He was just a great guy. He was protective. He would give the shirt off his back to anybody. He was just a great guy and he was a hero.''
Mother Tammy said: ''He did two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan. He made it. To go over to train something he loved to do, he got murdered for it? It's not fair.''
Aldhouse, from Birmingham, is also the first Briton to be extradited to Thailand since the Human Rights Act came into force 12 years ago.
One estimate says his court case and prison costs are have cost the British taxpayer around 100,000 pounds. Thai officials spared no expense in making sure he was returned to Phuket for trial.
Four officials - Intranee Sumawong, Executive Director of International Affairs at the Attorney General's Department, prosecutor Panumas Ajalaboon, Police Colonel Sinard Ajhawong and Police Colonel Kecha Sukkapirom - accompanied Aldhouse on the flight back to Thailand.
Aldhouse admits stabbing Longhouse but denies the killing was planned. Footage from a convenience store security camera shows him scooping up two knives as short time before the attack.
Now in Phuket Prison on remand, Aldhouse is due to appear in court later this week. The case against him was prepared long ago and has been presented in several British courts.
Whether his Phuket trial begins before New Year probably depends on whether DNA tests matching Aldhouse's saliva with blood samples found at the scene of the killing have been completed.
Nobody asks how many people that soldier died in Irak and Afganistan ?
Maybe should also think about those families who never will have justice !
Posted by Eric on December 12, 2012 22:20