Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

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wazza
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Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by wazza » May 19, 2009, 9:38 am

Things must be tough in Fooket

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25 ... 01,00.html

I fancied those beer coolers in the Cow Shed in Udon, but not worth 14 days plus in the Monkey House !



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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by Aardvark » May 19, 2009, 10:01 am

" Silly Smoel " :D sorry, couldn't help myself :D you would think the Bar owner could have done something to help, after all they spent money on her Mothers B/day in the place and the clown gets upset about a mat worth a couple of baht. I might send the clown an email and abuse him :-k

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by ULICK MC GEE » May 19, 2009, 10:05 am

Theft is theft ,but it was only a beer mat,all these so called little theft's when added up at end of year can leave a big hole in profit's.I'm sure if he had asked for it,he would now have his mat and freedom. :guiness:

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by wazza » May 19, 2009, 10:05 am

It might have been one of those 1/2 Fers, that live in Perth ?

1/2 Aussie, 1/2 Pommie

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by Aardvark » May 19, 2009, 10:09 am

ULICK MC GEE wrote:Theft is theft ,but it was only a beer mat,all these so called little theft's when added up at end of year can leave a big hole in profit's.I'm sure if he had asked for it,he would now have his mat and freedom. :guiness:
She mate She, and if you read the post you would have noticed it was a freind who put the mat in her bag as a joke, and that the freind confessed and was told to go away 8)

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by Aardvark » May 19, 2009, 10:11 am

wazza wrote:It might have been one of those 1/2 Fers, that live in Perth ?

1/2 Aussie, 1/2 Pommie
And what pray tell are you trying to say young wazza #-o

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by wazza » May 19, 2009, 2:14 pm

Mr Vark, Glad we were able to resolve the citizenship thing issue.

yes you guys still need to complete the Immigration card where it asks, If you have a criminal conviction, even if it was 230 years ago !

Back on topic Thought there might have been more behind this story,

Bribing and abusing Officials ummmm

Thats more like a detention issue

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25 ... 01,00.html

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Beer mat theft!

Post by mortiboy » May 19, 2009, 2:20 pm

This is from Thai Visa.This just cant be so. ....A beer mat. Ther'e got to be more to it surely! :yikes:

A Melbourne mother is stuck in Thailand charged with theft and facing time in a Phuket jail cell.
Thirty-six-year-old Annice Smoel says: "I get very scared when I see police. I'm just trying to keep it together, so I can get home." Undercover police arrested Smoel in the early morning hours of May 3.


Patong Police claim Smoel stole a bar mat from Phuket's Aussie Bar. Smoel spent the next day in a four-metre-by-four-metre cell with three other women.

Police have confiscated Smoel's passport. Smoel says she is struggling with a severe language barrier and doesn't know what will happen next.

She is facing between two and five years jail - and has not been given any food in the past four days according to her lawyer.

3AW Breakfast is speaking to Smoel, her husband and lawyer now.

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by Farang1 » May 19, 2009, 3:27 pm

From reading the story in Wazza's post, because the bar owner didn't file any charges, she isn't in jail for theft. Sounds more like resisting arrest. As far as the attempted bribery is concerned, I heard that was the SOP of the Thai legal system. Maybe they didn't offer enough and the officers considered it an insult. Saving face and all.

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by beer monkey » May 19, 2009, 3:28 pm

From the first link on wazza'z post..
The owner of the Aussie Bar, Steve Wood, said that he believed Ms Smoel had been abusive toward the undercover police who had stopped her in the bar.

"When they talked to her all they wanted to do was chastise her, and they usually let you go, but she did a runner on them ... the police had to chase her down the beach,'' Mr Wood said.

"When they took her back to the police station, she continued to abuse everyone at the police station including the chief of police and I think this is what the problem is.

"It's more of an attitude problem than a crime problem.''
Seems a case of i am 'farang' i can do what i want.....could be a short sharp lesson on how to behave when being a 'guest' in los.
Why can't people act nicely and civil....sure she wouldn't be in this mess now if what was reported is true...which i am sure it is.
probably p!$$ed at the time too...and not even thinking of her children (aged 6, 8, 11 and 12.)
and the consequences of her actions.

I really want to be a good mum,'' she said.
Oh Yeah right..Mmmm........ :roll:

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by beer monkey » May 19, 2009, 4:23 pm

Link
A Melbourne woman has spent two nights in a Thai jail after being accused of stealing a bar mat from a Phuket hotel.

She has now been granted bail but can't leave the country because authorities still have her passport.

Rachael Brown reports.

RACHAEL BROWN: A fortnight ago, 36-year-old Annice Smoel from Melbourne was celebrating her mother's 60th birthday at Phuket's Aussie Hotel, when she says an innocent prank landed her in a jail cell.

It centres around a beer mat: a rubber-backed, pictured bar towel that she's heard could earn her up to five years in the tiny cell where she spent a weekend.

ANNICE SMOEL: Four metres by four metres concrete slab, big bars, a toilet that makes you feel ill just to look at, that probably has never been cleaned, no toilet paper. They would bring food twice a day and it was food from the street that my Mum and I had joked about in the week leading up to this.

It sort of looks like it's served in a plastic bag, like we would buy a goldfish.


RACHAEL BROWN: Ms Smoel has told Fairfax Radio she was released after two nights but says authorities have kept her passport, and she faces a long frustrating wait in Thailand away from her four young daughters.

ANNICE SMOEL: The process here apparently is the police have 48 days to investigate the crime. They then hand it to the prosecutor, who decides whether it's prosecutable, who hands it to the Governor, who decides whether he agrees, then it either goes before a judge or gets thrown out.

RACHAEL BROWN: Ms Smoel says Thai police know she wasn't responsible for the prank but she says they don't care.

ANNICE SMOEL: There's video evidence in the bar. I was nowhere near the handbag and one of the girls that was involved went down to the police station on the Sunday morning and confessed to the crime and apologised, and they told her to go away. They didn't care.

RACHAEL BROWN: Bernard Murphy, from law firm Morris Blackburn, is representing Ms Smoel and says initial dealings with Thai authorities have been frustrating

BERNARD MURPHY: It's ridiculous on so many levels. On the worst view, if there had been a crime committed here, it is drunken souveniring of a bar towel.

But on the best view, they're holding a statutory declaration, a sworn declaration from two other people saying, "This woman didn't do it." The put it in her handbag when she wasn't even there as a joke.

RACHAEL BROWN: Are you worried this may turn into an incident of Thai authorities trying to save face perhaps?

BERNARD MURPHY: We've tried to do this in the way that they want to do it.

Which is, we've presented them with material, we've made representations to the embassy, we have made representations to the authorities, we've engaged a Thai lawyer.

We've done all the things to try and get this dealt with in some sensible timeframe. Almost three weeks later, we're still languishing in Thailand.

RACHAEL BROWN: What response have you had from the Federal Government?

BERNARD MURPHY: This morning we had a pleasing response from the Prime Minister.

It's a very unhappy situation that the Prime Minister of this country should have to intervene in a matter like this but he indicated some resolve in getting the problem fixed.

RACHAEL BROWN: The Victorian Premier John Brumby says the Government will do everything it can to get her back.

JOHN BRUMBY: The Attorney General Rob Hulls has been in contact with Department of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith this morning. She's a Victorian, we want to get her back.

RACHAEL BROWN: Mr Brumby says the drama won't help the country's tourism market.

JOHN BRUMBY: I would have thought for the Thai Government and the Thai authorities, at a time of the global financial crisis when everybody wants tourism, this isn't going to help them. Who'd go to Thailand for a holiday if you can get arrested for having fun in a bar?
So she only spent 2 nights in there.(with street food)..and has been released.(her own words)
But according to the post from thai viza (see above)....she has had no food for 4 days.according to lawyers... :^o

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by beer monkey » May 19, 2009, 10:24 pm

news.au.

MELBOURNE mother of four Annice Smoel was drunk and shouted at Thai police who arrested her for stealing an $80 mat from a bar, police and witnesses say.

Witnesses said she abused two policemen and demanded to see their superior officer after being arrested outside the Aussie Bar in Phuket about 2am on May 3.

She was taken to Kathu police headquarters nearby.

The officer in charge, Lt-Maj Jongseam Preecha, said Ms Smoel was very drunk and kept shouting at him.



"She was very rude to the two police, but they didn't properly understand what she was saying," he said.

"They brought her to me, and she was very loud."

He said Ms Smoel claimed the bar mat had been put in her bag by friends, but he denied anyone had come forward to say they'd put it there.

She would appear in court next Monday and, if found guilty could be fined up to $400 or jailed for up to five years.

Ms Smoel was charged with "night-time theft", which carries a higher punishment.

Aussie Bar owner Steve Wood claimed Ms Smoel was abusive to undercover police.

"When they talked to her, all they wanted to do was chastise her, and they usually let you go," he alleged.

"But she did a runner on them . . . The police had to chase her down the beach.

"She continued to abuse everyone, including the chief of police, and I think this is what the problem is."

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by izzix » May 20, 2009, 12:15 am

here is the said mat me'luds
the stories get ever more pathetic dont they ...dont the cops have time to arrest the Katoey muggers and drug dealers ?

[quote]
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/temper-tan ... urt-11130/

[/quote]

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by izzix » May 20, 2009, 2:24 am


Return to Phuket turns holiday from hell

* Geoff Strong
* May 20, 2009 - 8:50PM


It seemed like a good idea to return to paradise. That was the memory a Melbourne-based American couple had of the Thai holiday island Phuket where they used to live.

When they did return for a short holiday early last month, it became a holiday in hell.

After a night in prison plus $60,000 in mysterious payments through a Kafkaesque legal system, it was a very expensive hell too.

Logan Hesse and Urica Lopez met in Phuket four years ago where they were both working.

In May 2007, the house they were living in burnt down while they were out to dinner with friends.

Police investigators told them at the time the cause was an electrical fault.

Soon afterwards, they left Thailand to come to Melbourne where they were enrolled as students at La Trobe University.

Mr Hesse revealed his story yesterday following revelations a Melbourne tourist faced jail on the island over the theft of a beer mat.

He believes such cases are due to a tourism downturn because of the global financial crisis and recent civil unrest.

These had bitten into the usual source of `supplementary income' for Phuket's police and other officials.

"Their pockets are lighter so they are turning on tourists," he said.

Mr Hesse said nothing more had been heard about their house fire until they arrived at Bangkok last month. They were immediately detained and their passports were confiscated by police who told them a Phuket arrest warrant was outstanding for "criminal damage".

The costs started piling up from that point.

The couple were expected to cover the $265 price of an air ticket for a police officer to accompany them on to their island destination.

In Phuket, they were refused permission to speak directly to the US embassy and were slapped in jail for the night.

Their problems were compounded by arriving at the start of the Thai New Year, when all officaldom shuts down for a week.

Although the initial police investigation found an electrical fault was the cause of the fire, a subsequent report some months later changed the cause to a cigarette, even thought they were out at the time. Continued...

http://www.theage.com.au/world/return-t ... -be71.html


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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by westerby » May 20, 2009, 3:38 am

wazza wrote:It might have been one of those 1/2 Fers, that live in Perth ?

1/2 Aussie, 1/2 Pommie
Is there such an animal - what krikit team do they support?

You may be onto something here Wazza. The Aussie side of the character would revert to a throwback desire to lift the bar mat while the Pommie genes would not have the wit to do it without being caught.

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by fatbas***d » May 20, 2009, 8:09 am

But according to the post from thai viza (see above)....she has had no food for 4 days.according to lawyers...
Thai Viza isn't exactly the source of all reliable news. ](*,) In fact if you read anything there, take a large pinch of salt.

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by Aardvark » May 20, 2009, 9:38 am

This is getting a lot of news time here in Oz at the moment. With this being the start of our winter, many people take off to Asia for there Holidays and after Bali Thailand is the preferred destination. There will be people who have no knowledge of Thailand or it's people and laws who will be scared off by this. The Authorities are doing themselves no favours. Someone should step in and just send the Woman home and forget about saving face !!

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by BobHelm » May 20, 2009, 9:49 am

Yes, I noticed that they did rather a long piece about it on the Aussie channel News last night.
Including interviews with her family & the owner of the 'Aussie' bar as well.
If I had never been to Thailand the piece would certainly not have been something that would have encouraged me to come here, that is for certain.

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by Casper » May 20, 2009, 3:54 pm

Maybe the Thai police are sick of all the Bad mouthed Aussies that go to Pa Tong.

Hope this keeps this type of person away from Thailand.

Keep up the Good Work only a couple of thousand to go.

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Re: Aussie in jail for stealing a Bar Mat in Phuket

Post by beer monkey » May 20, 2009, 4:22 pm

So not an Aussie fan Casper.

And agree on the bad press for first time tourists coming from Oz...it don't look good, but you need to understand the whole behaviour thing.
And 30 AS $ for a stinking beer mat...!!... :-s

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