Monthly Archive for February, 2009

Bangkok Horror: Decapitated supposed’heartbroken tourist’ dangled from showpiece bridge

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on February 23, 2009
in The Times
. 9 Comments

Link to The SUN - Head dangles from bridge

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok,
February 23 2008

NB Corrections update and comments at end of this story

 

Police in Thailand are trying to identify a western man made out to look like ‘a heart broken tourist’ whose decapitated head was placed in a plastic bag and left dangling 25 ft below a railing from the city’s showpiece bridge.
Detectives were forced to admit that the death was not self inflicted, despite a clumsy attempt to etch  a suicide note on the walkway railing of the gold painted 1.5 mile long Rama VIII suspension bridge in Bangkok at the spot from which the head was suspended.
The note read: ‘Cath, I want but I can not. I came to Bangkok to be you’, and suggested the author may have been a foreign tourist who was jilted in love.  But police do not believe the message on the railing.
The jilted English suggests it was written by someone who did not have English as a first language, and was most likely Thai because of the grammatical construction. Police say it could not have been written willingly by the victim.
In Thai a person would literally say ‘I want but can not’. The word ‘have’ is assumed.
Police Colonel  Atcharat Heamathanon said: “The case has interested the most senior police here.
“This looks much more like a mafia, or drug related killing. It’s not a suicide. The victim just has been made out to look like a heart-broken tourist”
In a desperate attempt to identify the man Thai police asked newspapers to publish a photograph of the man’s face. Early today millions of Thais woke up to find the decapitated head on the front pages of their newspapers.
The man is Caucasian in his 40’s with close cropped greyish hair. Police are also contacting all western Embassies. The man’s corpse was was found in the river later.
Most foreigners murdered in Thailand are killed because of business dealings which have turned bad.  Attacks on tourists are usually opportunistic or prompted by ‘loss of face’.
Last week a 34-yr-old Canadian male model turned property developer was assassinated by two gunmen on the holiday island of Phuket, who pumped seven bullets into him.  Francis (Frank) DeGionanni, from Quebec, was suing his property business partner  for £400,000 through the Thai courts.
The most famous bridge hanging was that of Roberto Calvi, ‘God’s banker’ whose body was suspended from Blackfriars Bridge in 1982.  But five people were acquitted in Rome of his murder.
Link: http://www.matichon.co.th/khaosod/

Corrections/Updates

Once the forensic investigators had examined the body and head of the victim, their evidence contradicted statements from several Thai police officers, including the one in this story.  Suicide, they said, was after all the most likely cause. Further they also identified the man as Maurizio Tosadori from Italy who was down on his luck in Thailand and staying in a guest house in Bangkok’s Samsen Road.

 

 

Canadian property developer gunned down in Thailand

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on February 20, 2009
in The Times
. 3 Comments

Link to CBC Report by Andrew Drummond

Link to Globe & Mail report by same author

Link to Globe update with more infro from Oliver Moore

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok
February 20 09
Police in Thailand are investigating the murder of a wealthy Canadian property developer who was gunned down on his birthday outside his luxury condominium.
Francis Alex Degioanni, 34, originally from Quebec was shot seven times by gunmen who waited for him to drive out of his Panorama condo on Patong Beach, on the island of Phuket -one of Thailand’s top tourist destinations.
Minutes earlier Degioanni, had received a telephone call and had told his 22-yr-old Thai wife that he had to do some urgent business, but would be back to celebrate his birthday.
As he drove out of his condo in his Toyota Regal witnesses said he was approached by the gunmen, one wearing a long sleeved red shirt and trousers, the other wearing jeans, jacket and peaked cap.  Both had short military style hair-cuts.
The shooting began as he stopped. Degioanni was shot by the men firing .38 calibre pistols and had wounds in his head, neck, chest and one arm. Both men then fled on a motorycle in the direction of Jungceylon department store.
His Thai wife Tawadee Pencharoenwattana said: “My husband left in a hurry saying he had some business to attend to, after taking the telephone call.  When I heard the shots I rushed down.
“He was still alive and I dragged him across to the passenger seat and drove him to the hospital but he died before I reached it.  We have only been living here six months.”
Police who at the crime scene at 8.30 pm Thursday say they believe the shooting was business related.
Police Superintendent Krissak Songmoonmak said: “ The Canadian was very wealthy and had been involved in property development in Phuket for over five years.
“We know he was in dispute with his Thai business partner and had claimed he had been cheated out of 20 million baht ( Can $704,584).  That matter is already in the courts.”
Police did not say where in Canada Mr. Degioanni was from.
Last year Canadian Leo Del Pinto, aged 24, from Calgary was gunned down by a Thai policeman in the northern Thai village of Pai. 
The trial of the policeman was late last year abandoned and the Department of Special Investigations has been asked to prepare a new case.
Also murdered in Thailand last year was Dale Henry, originally from BC, but who spent much of his life as a paramedic and firefighter in Calgary.
Police have arrested his Thai wife, her lover, and a hit man in connection with the shooting at his home in Thailand’s Ranong Province, in a case which is still going through Thailand’s slow justice system.

N.B.Corrections/Updates: Father of Degioanni says his son was educated in the U.S. and has been in Thailand nine years. Later reports from Canada show that DeGioanni (this is now the accepted form) had earlier told his family that he thought he had been poisoned by his business partner, a woman, and might need police protection. He declined to return to Canada because he has a major project to finish. He was previously married in Thailand and has a three year old daughter.  The woman who shared his condo was his current Thai girlfriend.  DeGioanni was a former male model based out of Bangkok.

 

Pattaya journalists banned from covering criminal trials - Blog

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on February 13, 2009
in General News
. 7 Comments

This is a blog entry only

Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, February 13 2009

Now and again a little gem comes up on the net that’s worth giving a little further attention. And this one has actually been lurking up there for two years but I only came across it recently on Thaivisa.com when I was checking from interested parties, whether those arrested for murders of foreigners  and vice-versa had actually made it to court.  (Yes, there is no point in checking newspapers in Thailand)

It’s a post from that fine and upstanding Essex chappie Howard Miller, ‘Managing Editor’ of Pattaya City News (now Pattaya One News) and a black clad Tourist Police Volunteer Group Leader, (unkindly referred to by one Thaivisa poster by the accurate German translation of his title,  ‘Gruppenfuhrer’). His news operation regular comes in for stick from foreigners down in Pattaya for treating local police statements in the same way others might treat the Bible or Koran.

In his reply to criticisms that viewers are never told what happens to all those foreigners and Thais after they are arrested he announces that his journalists are in affect banned from the court!

Howard Miller:”I have been asked about this on a number of ocassions. On major stories such as this one ( murder - this was a story about a Thai mia noi who ordered the killing of her New Zealand boyfriend. AD), we are easily able to follow-up to it’s conclusion. However on some of the other cases (drugs, assault, immigration arresting foreigners and other minor crimes), the cases are sent to the court. We are not given access to the court. Please come to your own conclusions as to why we are not allowed to asign a reporter to the courthouse. PCN has been operating now for nearly 4 years and this constantly annoys me. Basically we can’t finish off the story and this frustration filters through to the reader on many occasions. Trust me on this one….I share your frustration but this situation will never change unfortunately”.

Just for a bit of colour on the subject of accuracy he goes on: “ Well, all I can say is PCN is guilty of ommiting some detail from a story some times, but I am confident that the information we give on a story is accurate to the best of our abilities. We must be doing something right because we sell our stories to Channel 3, Channel 7, Channel 9(MCOT) and ITV along with printed media, Matishon and Daily News national newspapers, on a daily basis. All are major national Thai TV stations and national newspapers in Thai language. We also deal with Reuters and other International news organisations when a major story breaks. This is in no way a “guarantee” that every piece of information is accurate, but even the “Big Boys” get it wrong sometimes, that is the nature of the job and is partly due to the pressures on us to get a story released as soon as possible. Other local news organisations do not have such contacts and for this, I am proud of every member of staff who works for me for making PCN a truly international news organisation. (sorry if it sounds like I am trying to sell PCN to you, but I am saying what I really feel)”.

Miller’s admission is absolutely believable. (Though his belief only minor crimes go to court is ‘out of court’ to so speak, unless murder is less important than overstaying a visa).

 When I go down to Pattaya on criminal trials I am often the only journalist there. Howard’s ‘international news’ boys go no further than the police station. It’s not because they won’t - ‘they can’t’ he says.

The ‘Big Boys’- Reuters, APTV, and the Thai national channels do not have the same problem and can and do go to the courts in Pattaya. But not very often. The problem the ’Big Boys’ have is trying to cover cases which sit only one day a month, and during which witnesses, especially police ones, frequently do not turn up.  Most organisations only go down on the judgment on bigger cases. (So they get no defence).

For many years judges in Phuket have banned local journalists, who are merely asked to print the judgment written by the judge. What Howard Miller is effectively saying is that the authorites have the local press fully in the bag. Its ‘pon prayote’ - for the benefit of all.

Anyway Howard Miller is not going to upset the ’status quo’ and defend the old chestnuts that ‘ law provides that justice should be seen to be done’,  and ‘justice delayed is justice denied’.

But at least we now know from the horse’s mouth. And needless to say his television news has not reported on the result of the New Zealander’s murder,  or those ‘minor’ matters which go to court, …or probably any result for that matter.

It probably also explains why the Pattaya Daily News lifted the pictures and result of the Maurice Prail case off this website.  No local press were at the court.

Anyway thanks for your honesty Howard. And if you want to know what happened to the bailed mia noi who allegedly inherited 700,000 baht.

Ask a policeman!

Meanwhile I guess Howard Miller will have to do some soul searching. His news is police-story led. The so called criminals are condemned at police press conferences by  local stations such as Pattaya One and they know that even if they are acquitted their names will not be cleared - unless they get a copy of the judgment and take it to the local media themselves. But an acquitall is never as good as the original story.

 

(edited Feb 17)

 

 

 

Buddhism in Crisis - Micro-skirted Abbot flees with ladyboys

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on February 9, 2009
in General News
. 3 Comments

Thailand: Buddhism in crisis
Bottom shaking Abbot in micro-skirt flees temple with posse of lady-boys
From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok,
February 8 2009
The Abbot of a Buddhist monastery here in Thailand has apparently fled from his temple with a group of transvestites – in the latest incident in a country where Buddhism has been described as being in a crisis.
Allegations have been made that the Abbot of the Sri Boon Ruang Temple in Lamphun, Northern Thailand, had has a full sex change operation and cruised the local town for clients at night with a group of lady-boys as his acolytes .
The Provincial Governor of the province at the weekend gave until tomorrow (Monday) for 38-yr-old Abbot Phra Khru Wichit Sarakan to ‘come out’.  And if he did not resign, said Governor Direk Kongrit, “I will have to take action”.
In the scandal which has rocked the majority Buddhist population of Thailand, it is alleged that Phra Khru Wichit Sarakan, dressed up in micro-skirts, wore lipstick and mascara, and cruised local nightspots as a female with a crowd of transvestites using the name ‘Jaidao’.
According to a waitress in the Tawan Daeng restaurant in Lamphun: “Jaidow used to come here often with a group of five or six. He always wore shorts and very short skirts.  “When he got drunk he used to dance and wiggle his bottom a lot. He used to give big tips to the waiters if they were young and handsome.”
The Abbot is also reported to have replaced forty monks at his temple with 40 ‘katoeys’ said the Provincial Governor, using a Thai expression which covers ‘effeminate men, transsexuals, and transvestites’ often also referred to in Thailand as ‘the third sex’.
Governor Direk Kongrit, raided the temple last week with local police, and saw young men run away from the monks rooms. 
“We also found two ‘katoeys’ in a monks room. But they said they had come to collect some money to do some flower arranging.
“In the Abbot’s room police have found a lot of women’s clothing including bras, panties, and extra large women’s shoes. We know enough. We do not feel it necessary to conduct the investigation any further.
“We have been in touch with the Abbot, who was not present during the raid. He has not admitted he has had an operation to have his private parts replaced by those of a woman. He said he did not want the publicity to get worse then it was. Out of respect because of his position and because he is also a local district councillor, I am not going to order a search.
“Perhaps he might admit this to journalists.  But it appears there are only two normal monks and one novice left in the temple which is known locally as ‘Temple Katoey’.
 Today the Abbot had already fled. “I have decided to leave and move away. It is better for all concerned,” he told a reporter from the Kom Chat Luek newspaper.
The allegation that he had a sex change came from a boyfriend whom he was putting through university.
Meanwhile the Abbots of all temples in Lamphun Province are being called to meet the Provincial Governor next week. “I need to clarify my position on this. We have heard of many reports of ‘katoeys’ in other temples,” said Governor Kongrit.
 Buddhism in Thailand has been described as being in turmoil with many newspapers using the headline ‘Buddhism in Crisis’  with many monks being outed for having mistresses on the side, gambling, and property developing, all with the cash from donations.

Police raid Brit organised ’swingers’ party’ Bangkok

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on February 6, 2009
in General News
. 2 Comments

Link to what The SUN depiction of orgy

The bald reality from the Thai Rath
From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok
Thai police raided a hotel room in Bangkok early today and arrested 13 men and ten women they said were taking part in a British organised ‘swingers party’.
The raid took place at Bangkok’s Elizabeth Hotel and a British man, Chris Richards, 54, and his Thai wife, the organisers of what police described as ‘a swinging sex tour,’ were charged with conducting an illegal commercial sex operation.  They had charged participants each the equivalent of £62.
All the men were foreign; seven out of the ten women were Thai. The party included nationals from Britain, Australian, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Korea.
They also took away lubricant, pornographic materials and 30 Viagra pills.
The raid inspired an immediate furore on local internet forums from local expatriates angered at police intrusion of privacy in Bangkok which had set itself up as a ‘sex tour city’ .
Posters known as a ‘Brit_Thaicpl’ frequently advertise swinging parties on the internet through a Yahoo group known as ‘ThailandCentralSwingers’.
A promotion statement for the event states: “The evening starts normally like a cocktail party with people casually dressed to attract the opposite sex (no jeans or wellington boots) .
“People eat from the great buffet and help themselves to drinks from the wide selection with no limits and play slowly unfolds at each person’s own pace.

“It’s a great night and well worth coming to, you will see all styles of play.”
Legal note: Technically all entertainment establishments offering sexual services in Thailand are illegal. But they pay cash to police not to enforce the law.