From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, September 3 2009
Other publications from same author: Scottish Television video:drummond/chant/hill
Scot attacked in Bangkok will be allowed to die - The Scotsman
I have to watch mugged wife die - The SUN
No hope for Thai mugging victim - BBC Scotland
Pictures: Andrew Chant (later)
Doctors in Bangkok have ceased to provide special medication for a 58-yr-old Scots woman who suffered severe head injuries when she was mugged in a Bangkok street at on her 30th wedding anniversary at the weekend.
But they have refused to switch off life support systems for Lydia Riach from Inverness as it is against Thai law and the family’s wishes.
Now children’s charity worker Lydia from Inverness will be left to die naturally at the Police Hospital in Bangkok where she was admitted last Saturday. The possibilities of a recovery remain slim.
Douglas Riach and son Roger at Bangkok Police Hospital
Husband Douglas Riach, 57, a former director of Inverness Caledonian Thistle football club said: “I have received confirmation that Lydia no longer has brain stem function. The law denies the choice in terminating life support.
“She has been moved out of the Intensive Care Unit to a ward where life will continue, but medication will be capped. We anticipate a matter of days only, which is a blessing as she is gone already.”
The news was broken as the Lydia’s son Roger, 34, an operations manager for Securitas in Glasgow, daughter Patricia 37, and their uncle Eddie Riach,flew into the Thai capital to be with her.
“They have arrived together and the family will be together for Lydia’s last hours,” aded Mr. Riach known to hisa friends as Dougie.
Son Roger said: “It is a godsend that we have been able to get here in time to see our mother. We would never order her life support to be shut off. She will go in her own good time. But the prospects do not look good. There has been no improvement in her condition.”
The mugging of Lydia in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 22 has angered many expatriates who say they are beginning to fear for safety in the streets of Bangkok.
Regulars from the ”Twenty Two ‘bar, where ‘Dougie’ and Lydia used to go to watch Celtic matches, earlier in the week called on the police station at Thonglor in Bangkok to demand action over the attack.
Bar owner Ray McLaughlin, from Glasgow said: “They were very concerned that the police wake up to the seriousness of this crime.”
A spokesman for Thonglor Police however said that a witness had now come forward and they would be issuing pictures of the suspects tomorrow (Friday). “We are aware that if she dies this will become a murder investigation. However we have new information and are confident of making an arrest.”
But Douglas Riach said: “If there is one thing I want to get across is that I do not blame Thailand or the Thais for this. It could happen in many places. The Thai people have been very kind and wonderful hosts to both Lydia and myself.
The spot where Lydia Riach was dragged to the ground
“Lydia’s treatment in hospital has been caring and excellent. I do not find Bangkok a dangerous place, in fact it is safer than most, so I would not want people to say they are not coming to Thailand because of this event.
“She is a great woman. My best friend. My soulmate. It has been a privilege to have been her husband for 30 years.”
Lydia received her head injuries when she was dragged along a round by motor-cycle snatch these who grabbed her handbag, which was around her shoulder and neck, as they drove past. Her head smashed into the road.
Added Roger: “Our mum was everybody’s friend and a very cheerful person. She loved her new life in Bangkok . She was forever sending us cheerful emails.”
Mr. and Mrs Riach have been a popular couple in the expatriate community of the Thai capital. Douglas Riach first arrived in Bangkok two years ago and secured work as a sales consultant for Infinity, a financial consultancy, before Lydia flew out to join him. Mrs Riach was due to start work helping children at a Bangkok orphanage before the attack.
Mr Riach is showing admirable restraint and great dignity.
Caution: The family of Lydia Riach claim they have been approached by a ‘journalist’, claiming to be from Thai Visa.com, and asked for cash with a guarantee they could find the perpetrator of the attack on Lydia in Bangkok last Saturday.
Last night the family said they were further contactd by the ‘journalist’ and told by him that Lydia had died. This was not the case.
This has understandably caused them great distress. If ‘George’ or any of the administrators of ThaiVisa are monitoring this site perhaps they should contact me in order to erase any misunderstanding.
The man in question is using the same name as a person who as been reporting for Thai Visa.com and lives in an apartment opposite where they attack took place.
I am surprised and disappointed at the scarcity of any news concerning this tragedy in the Thai English language media.
- This isn’t news?
- Isn’t this what reporting is all about, and of relevance to tourists and expats?
It seems the English language dailies are imposing their own form of censorship - perhaps they are afraid of offending the government and adding to the poor image Thailand has been acquiring for itself these past several years.
Why buy these papers when the UK and International press do a better job of reporting (I first read about this poor woman’s mugging on the Daily record’s site early Tuesday morning).
I feel very sad for the family and as an expat Scot here for many years my thoughts and prayers are with them in this distressing time.
Yes. Great restraint & dignity!
Is there actually some way this blog could form the basis of a news-gathering site for the region? Here we have an individual who is committed to living in the region, and who has the necessary journalistic background and discipline. Some of us might be interested in volunteering as moderators or similar, but it would help to have someone who has the ultimate say-so on what gets on the screen. Sure the material will end up on newspaper sites in the UK and others, but it would be good to see it brought together in one place.
JB. I have been thinking the same for some time. But it would be a hell of a task. Let’s see Andrews view.
It is not the role of the English language national dailies in Thailand to cover this type of news, tragic though it is. They are not ‘expat newspapers’, publishing news of particular interest to that group. They are national dailies, that happen to be in English. You can argue about the quality of their journalism (usually dismal), but they report national news. This particular tragedy is of no more relevance to them than the 100 other similar tragedies that unfortunately befall Thais every day of the week.
It is not only the press but certain websites such as one in Phuket, not the main one Phuket Gazzette but another. In a comment page a few weeks ago I made mention of the dangers here after a Thai poster had said all these acts of violence and crime blamed on Thais were really the fault of “wrong doers” then went on to say these “wrong doers” were foreigners not Thais. When I replied that I did not agree I was threatened in a “Thai” way that may not seem like a threat to the uninitiated. I was told I should leave Thailand and that people like me were the “wrong doers” at which point he made what I considered to be a threat in his comment and that I should “Kap Bahn” (return to wherever i am from” immediately finishing off woth did I understand. I would not be surprised at all if this poster was a policeman. His english mixed British slang and American slang and was poor. He knew the slang though. I found it amazing they could even post it online. Later the moderator made a comment saying that I apparently had “problems” and that Thailand was totally safe. He also mentioned that these things happen in every country. Other comments on that site are getting the same sort of replies anyone that dares to complain is a “wrong doer” and should get out of here fast.
I have no need to mention that there are so many stories like this coming in daily that I do not think that it can compare with any western city. The amount of murder and other cases in the press during the nearly 30 years I have spent here is quite high. What happens to these people who are charged with these crimes. We rarely hear. There is a major cover up here on the facts. A friend of mine was murdered here some time ago. The investigation into it lasted about as long as it took to write a report that he died of heart failure at the age of 36. His embassy did not even care and made no effort to get to the truth even when his family came over.
I congratulate the author of this website for making an attempt to bring these stories to the surface. A list should be compiled of all the cases in the past 25 years. I am sure the list would be several pages long. This does not happen to tourists in any western nation to the extent that it happens here and as a frequent visitor of Soi 22 I too am getting scared of what could happen.
Thailand is hoping the country’s recent unflattering reputation will go away if nobody is mentioning the new reality tourists face on the streets here.
The Bangkok Post and The Nation may see themselves as national broadsheets for the small Thai elite who can read them, but I don’t think their circulation or advertising revenue would be the same without us expats. Underwhelming as their journalism may be, it could be in their interest to serve us fewer pada babies and more news.
Not that I am holding my breath.
One of the reasons that I hardly bother to read either the BP or the Nation is that they gloss both over the very local news that I find most interesting. Yes, I really do want to know what is happening in Pai. And I couldn’t really care less what fashions Bangkokians are overindulging in.
ThaiVisa.com has no reporter, so whoever contacted Lydia’s family claiming to represent ThaiVisa.com was misrepresenting themselves. For a brief time, freelance journalist John LeFevre was creating ThaiVisa News, but he left following a disagreement with management.
It appears that John LeFevre was on the scene immediately after the accident.
http://photojourn.wordpress.com/
I remember back in 2000, while living in Bangkok, the Bangkok Post ocassionally wrote some interesting/disturbing local events that had happened in the area. For example, I used to live near Udomsuk and I once read in the BP with horror about a woman’s body being found in a freezer cut up in pieces in an Udomsuk building. Pretty gruesome. I never see these little local stories anymore.