PHUKET: An Australian man accused of trying to become a Phuket taxi driver burst into tears today as he told police he feared he was going to die at the hands of the Patong taxi ''mafia.''
''My wife is three months pregnant and I have an eight-year-old daughter,'' cried Gary Ronald Ponting, who claimed to have been a member of the police force in Australia for 20 years before retiring.
He was speaking to an officer at Kathu Police Station this afternoon, giving for the first time his side of a controversial encounter in which he waved a gun.
Mr Ponting's version of what took place outside Patong's Phuket Graceland Resort and Spa yesterday is very different to the account of local taxi drivers.
After being arrested following yesterday's confrontation, the 44-year-old Aussie had his first opportunity today to tell in his own words what took place.
He told the interviewing policeman today that he drove his ''ute'' - Australian slang for a pickup - to the resort to drop off his Thai wife, who was three months pregnant, and his daughter aged eight from a previous relationship, who is on Phuket during school holidays.
They were not guests at the resort but his wife, who runs a tour business in Patong, needed to meet customers at the Graceland resort, on beach road.
On the way out after dropping them off, by chance he encountered two Australian friends, who were enjoying their holiday with two of their own friends.
The four of them piled into the ''ute'' and he planned to drop them off elsewhere in Patong.
Taxi drivers from the Graceland rank ''came from nowhere,'' he told a police investigator today, with drivers telling him in broken English: ''What are you doing? Why are you taking all these people?''
He said the drivers were ''being very aggressive.''
Mr Ponting said he continued on his way with his friends and their friends, dropping them near his wife's office, then went back to the house in Kathu.
He plays the role of househusband, while his wife works. He told police today that he does the washing and the housework, everything that needs doing around the home, while his wife operates the tour business.
His wife telephoned about 1.30pm, saying that she and his daughter wanted to catch up with him for lunch, Mr Ponting said.
Along the way to meet them, he told police, he decided to drop by at Graceland to photograph some of the ''aggressive'' taxi drivers he had encountered earlier.
His aim, he said, was to present the photos and his account of what had happened to the so-called ''Tourist Court.'' [There's actually is no such thing but some media have presented the new Tourist Protection Service as a ''Tourist Court.'']
As a former policeman, he wanted to present the ''unacceptable aggressive behavior'' of the Graceland drivers, he told the investigating officer at Kathu Police Station today.
Aunt Meow, the woman who runs the Graceland rank in the absence of the leader, was not there, he was told, by drivers. They added that she would be back at 3pm.
Over lunch, his wife told him: ''Why do you have to do this? They are 'mafia.' They will kill you.''
He said that he told his wife that the attitude of the drivers wasn't right, so he intended to do what he could to fix it.
Back outside Phuket Graceland, Mr Ponting told the investigating officer, he got out of his ''ute'' to take photographs - and was immediately surrounded and attacked.
He said he was knocked to the ground but at no stage retaliated, suffering a bruised face and hip and he was punched and kicked.
When he got to his feet, he said, he found himself confronting a taxi driver holding a knife.
At this stage of the interview, Mr Ponting began crying. ''I am going to become a father again soon,'' he said, ''and I have an eight-year-old daughter. I did not want to die.''
He went to the ''ute'' and grabbed a BB handgun from inside, waving it around to frighten off the drivers.
The drivers stepped back and he drove the ''ute'' a short distance down the beach road to the Kalim Circle, where police caught up with him and arrested him.
He says the ammunition found in the car - which does not fit the gun - was left from an outing he went on with his young daughter to a Phuket shoorting range a couple of days ago.
He denies any knowledge of the knuckle-duster and knife combination that was allegedly also found in the vehicle.
Mr Ponting has been charged with possession of an illegal gun, possession of ammunition, and possession of a weapon in a public place.
Because there are few signs of a serious fight, assault charges are unlikely to be pursued.
Mr Ponting said he was a retired policeman with 20 years' experience and had been coming and going between Phuket and Australia's Gold Coast for three years.
The case is being investigated further. It comes amid growing concern about the power of Phuket's taxi groups to decide who comes and who goes from Phuket's resorts.
Taxi and tuk-tuk fares on Phuket have been pushed to extortionate levels that are now considered unacceptable by many tourists.
Thailand's Department of Special Investigation has begun an anti-corruption campaign to end the monopoly that prevents a normal, low-priced Phuket public transport system from being established.
''My wife is three months pregnant and I have an eight-year-old daughter,'' cried Gary Ronald Ponting, who claimed to have been a member of the police force in Australia for 20 years before retiring.
He was speaking to an officer at Kathu Police Station this afternoon, giving for the first time his side of a controversial encounter in which he waved a gun.
Mr Ponting's version of what took place outside Patong's Phuket Graceland Resort and Spa yesterday is very different to the account of local taxi drivers.
After being arrested following yesterday's confrontation, the 44-year-old Aussie had his first opportunity today to tell in his own words what took place.
He told the interviewing policeman today that he drove his ''ute'' - Australian slang for a pickup - to the resort to drop off his Thai wife, who was three months pregnant, and his daughter aged eight from a previous relationship, who is on Phuket during school holidays.
They were not guests at the resort but his wife, who runs a tour business in Patong, needed to meet customers at the Graceland resort, on beach road.
On the way out after dropping them off, by chance he encountered two Australian friends, who were enjoying their holiday with two of their own friends.
The four of them piled into the ''ute'' and he planned to drop them off elsewhere in Patong.
Taxi drivers from the Graceland rank ''came from nowhere,'' he told a police investigator today, with drivers telling him in broken English: ''What are you doing? Why are you taking all these people?''
He said the drivers were ''being very aggressive.''
Mr Ponting said he continued on his way with his friends and their friends, dropping them near his wife's office, then went back to the house in Kathu.
He plays the role of househusband, while his wife works. He told police today that he does the washing and the housework, everything that needs doing around the home, while his wife operates the tour business.
His wife telephoned about 1.30pm, saying that she and his daughter wanted to catch up with him for lunch, Mr Ponting said.
Along the way to meet them, he told police, he decided to drop by at Graceland to photograph some of the ''aggressive'' taxi drivers he had encountered earlier.
His aim, he said, was to present the photos and his account of what had happened to the so-called ''Tourist Court.'' [There's actually is no such thing but some media have presented the new Tourist Protection Service as a ''Tourist Court.'']
As a former policeman, he wanted to present the ''unacceptable aggressive behavior'' of the Graceland drivers, he told the investigating officer at Kathu Police Station today.
Aunt Meow, the woman who runs the Graceland rank in the absence of the leader, was not there, he was told, by drivers. They added that she would be back at 3pm.
Over lunch, his wife told him: ''Why do you have to do this? They are 'mafia.' They will kill you.''
He said that he told his wife that the attitude of the drivers wasn't right, so he intended to do what he could to fix it.
Back outside Phuket Graceland, Mr Ponting told the investigating officer, he got out of his ''ute'' to take photographs - and was immediately surrounded and attacked.
He said he was knocked to the ground but at no stage retaliated, suffering a bruised face and hip and he was punched and kicked.
When he got to his feet, he said, he found himself confronting a taxi driver holding a knife.
At this stage of the interview, Mr Ponting began crying. ''I am going to become a father again soon,'' he said, ''and I have an eight-year-old daughter. I did not want to die.''
He went to the ''ute'' and grabbed a BB handgun from inside, waving it around to frighten off the drivers.
The drivers stepped back and he drove the ''ute'' a short distance down the beach road to the Kalim Circle, where police caught up with him and arrested him.
He says the ammunition found in the car - which does not fit the gun - was left from an outing he went on with his young daughter to a Phuket shoorting range a couple of days ago.
He denies any knowledge of the knuckle-duster and knife combination that was allegedly also found in the vehicle.
Mr Ponting has been charged with possession of an illegal gun, possession of ammunition, and possession of a weapon in a public place.
Because there are few signs of a serious fight, assault charges are unlikely to be pursued.
Mr Ponting said he was a retired policeman with 20 years' experience and had been coming and going between Phuket and Australia's Gold Coast for three years.
The case is being investigated further. It comes amid growing concern about the power of Phuket's taxi groups to decide who comes and who goes from Phuket's resorts.
Taxi and tuk-tuk fares on Phuket have been pushed to extortionate levels that are now considered unacceptable by many tourists.
Thailand's Department of Special Investigation has begun an anti-corruption campaign to end the monopoly that prevents a normal, low-priced Phuket public transport system from being established.
Knowing this is the exact kind of behavior we have seen time and again from the taxi and tuk tuk ranks, it is believable. Not smart to confront these guys as he did, even if he was in the right.
Posted by NomadJoe on October 2, 2013 22:36