This is a blog only
Following a report here (written from Thai copy sent by our reporter in Pattaya) also sent to the British newspapers, some people down in Pattaya seem surprised that this event was not reported in the local newspapers, though I believe it has been now. A thread even went up on Thaivisa.com http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Press-Censorship-Pattaya-t315227.html.
I never seem to be surprised that people down on the eastern seaboard put so much faith in their local press, when an even cursory look at some of the ‘hail fellow well met’ owners, and past owners, and their agendas, should ring massive alarm bells all around.
Censorship in Burma: Courtesy Msf/Bart
We are not in Burma so the censorship in Thailand is mainly self censorship. Of course you could get shot or ruined if you break the rules!
Actually one newspaper’s published agenda is to protect the city’s image against harmful foreign publicity and has been harping on about the ‘family resort’ ever since its conception, though its former chief reporter had a gun, a stun gun, and interesting sidelines, both as a tourist policeman and an agent running a sort of SOS business for foreigners in the sh*t.
As for the other main English language newpaper, ouch, don’t go there. Never mind the boss, a member of the FCCT when I last looked, one of its TV interviewers is best known for his conviction for possessing child porn in the UK. I could go on…and on.
Ask yourself this. In trouble in Pattaya? Victim of injustice, fraud, or other crime? Need to expose a villain? Would you go to your local paper for help? The answer is no, which is why many people contact their papers back home.
Want to perpetrate a scam? Sell a puppy (in all senses of the word) Whitewash your past with a personality write up: Answer: Yes.
Anyway readers of ThaiVisa.com were treated to the lifted Daily Mail version of my story. The Daily Mail claimed, under my name, that the woman was raped. My story stated that the woman ‘claimed’ she was raped. While it may be true she was raped, there is no conviction and two men were already in custody.
This seems to have been leapt on by a couple of posters as a prime example of dishonest or exaggerated reporting. I was particularly intrigued by a post called ‘Aussiechick’ who asked people if they remembered my World Cup stories………..suggesting another case of maybe exaggeration or whatever.
Aussie Rules? No perhaps she meant the ‘Chelsea Headhunters’, a bunch of thugs who ended up in Pattaya after being found not guilty on conspiracy to cause affray charges, when police were caught ‘verballing’ them (verballing: essentially inventing quotes). They have long since diminished, victims to Thai women and the recession, I gather. I understand also one or two were a little miffed to have been nabbed by Japanese police at Narita airport on the way to the World Cup there, way back when. They put it down to me, but its much more likely to have been the British NCIS - The National Criminal Intelligence Service.
Stan the Monkey
ThaiVisa even gave a convicted paedophile better known in the UK as ‘Stan the Monkey’ space to rant about me on the same thread. He claimed I did a story about him without even meeting him etc. My story was totally false etc. For those who saw this rant, which has now been removed, here is the link and pictures of the first of two confrontations, working with the Metropolitan Police Women and Juvenile Division in Bangkok and FACE - Fight Against Child Exploitation. They could have placed charges against him in Thailand by the way, but the Thai authorities found it a lot easier just to deport him for working illegally. Now its apparently my fault he cannot come back. Or have you Alan?
And there was also this post from some guy calling himself Manarak (Anorak perhaps would be better) which I cannot resist quoting.
He says: “We don’t have any details on what precisely happened to this girl or how it happened. This makes the whole story suspicious.
The papers normally would pay a good price for a story full of disgusting details, but no… no story. Strange?”
What?
A little evidence here courtesy of ThaiVisa reflecting on the level of argument some of their members. :-). Still, if the posts keep coming in on mass the webmasters can cash in on more of those ‘Bangkok massage’ adverts.
But is there likely to be a happy conclusion in the rape case ? No. It is very rare. The ‘raped’ woman asked for no publicity. The Pattaya Police did not want the story published. In low profile cases like this there is no chance of having the case fast tracked.
So if she were to prosecute the case, there would only be her evidence, and perhaps the other evidence of what was stolen. She might have to wait out a year, even if the defendants pleaded guilty, two years or more if otherwise. If she left the country she would have to pay her air fare to come back. And what was she doing alone in walking street at 12.30 they will ask?
It would be an absolute nightmare. So lets face the facts. For a foreign woman sexually abused in Thailand there is little recourse. Do not expect the same justice as you get back home. Don’t lose your friends. Be safe.
Its tragic - but true.
The story referenced on the ThaiVisa sight was written by the Thai reporter (who cannot read/speak English) and sourced with 3 sources who were not named in the English version. The story also contained more detail than was published in your piece, which, by the way, was quoted as a soruce when appropriate.
My point is the story in the the local Mail is not “lifted” from the your Mail version.
I know, as I edited (rewrote) the story.
Pattaya Ghost: Thanks for that, but nobody has suggested the Pattaya Mail lifted the story from the Daily Mail.
if you read this)
This is getting all a little confusing now. Howard Miller (Pattaya One) suggests the girl has fled back to the UK.
(What we have in private conversations is private btw Howard
But Pattaya Mail states the two men have been charged with rape and theft.
Which Pattaya newspaper media outlet will be going to the court to find out what really happens?
Has the woman already appeared?
None, if history is anything to go by.
The Daily Mail version is not reprinted on the Thai Visa thread, at least as far as I could find. Which is why I thought you were referrinng to the Pattaya Mail story.
As for follow up, I actually wanted to make a TV post referring them to your past blog entry about the difficulty of Thai media reproting on court cases.
Pattaya Ghost: Actually the thread was started with George posting the Daily Mail version. Its been removed now, perhaps because of my comment on my original story ‘British woman raped in Thai beach resort. Feel free to post on ThaiVisa. rgds
Hmmm … There seems to be that the policeman in your article does not exist. Is that true or not?
And a different policeman was involved in the case.
Waitin: I am absolutely confident that I have the right name of the policeman dealing with the case of the time.If there is any error it can only be phonetic changing from the written Thai report to English.
As to your question that a different policeman was involved in the case, I am sure there were many. There usually are in rape cases!
I have been notified about comments made by Howard Miller of PattayaOne.com. on the “Secrets” website.
All I can say is this. Howard leaves his news to his Thai ‘newsgatherers’. The news is translated and he just reads it. His other comments have I think already been proved wrong and his suppositions unsubstantiated.
I use journalists/sources in different parts of Thailand, who will actually tell me what is going on, but may not always report it themselves because they cannot because it is not worth the trouble it can cause.
They were invaluable during the Kirsty Jones murder case for instance. On that occasion we reported that police had kidnapped a Karen tour guide, took him to a private house, beat him to get a confession, tried to masturbate him (for DNA) and when they could not or get a confession dumped him by the side of a road.
The information came from a Thai national paper journalist who knew he could only break it if the story was broken abroad first.
Thanks for your interest btw.
As you will see from PattayaGhost above there is little doubt about the validity of the original story.
When I hear either mob of shirts talk about democracy, I only have to remind myself of stories like this (and the dreadful Samak) to click back to the reality that it is flat-out a kleptocracy. (And before any one says, “Oh, but Samak was a relatively honest blowhard and bigot”, jut remember there are persistent rumors that when he was asked to administer the estate of Hang Thong, he seems to have used that opportunity to bail out his own bankrupt life.)