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British gal raped and murdered Samui


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Limbo said:

??If this isn't dealt with properly, it may affect visiting numbers to Samui in a few months time.??

 

Suffice to say the damage has already been done I?m afraid.

 

A string of recent fellang murders including the British couple killed by MIB in Kanchanaburi and the British girl raped and murdered in Chang Mai have attracted huge media coverage in Britain. This latest murder may lead the press to put together a ?bolt on? story posing the question ?Is Thailand safe??. There is much irritating and wrongful talk currently amongst a minority of long term and ex-pat residents of Samui that the island has turned into a cesspit of violence and degeneration? If the British media latch onto this opinion, there is a good chance they may delve a little deeper and report there findings and maybe even interview the odd ex-pat. That would have a definite impact certainly from British tourists.

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Just a quick follow up from last post.....Sky TV in the U.K (who have the biggest broadcasting media coverage), have just run a ten minute reprt on the most recent fellang murders over the last 5/6 years, questioning Thailand's reputation as a safe place to visit. Channel 5 have run a simmilar reitoration of fellang murders over last few years and also posed the same question.

 

I worry this may be the straw that broke the cammels back here, and there will be a antithai media frenzy in the U.K.

 

Two Ozz and two Scottish cott guys being hunted (apparently) in connection with the murder, as reported here:

 

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13489250,00.html

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Thai murder Briton 'probably' raped

4 January 2006

 

A British student on holiday in Thailand was "probably" raped before she drowned, the policeman leading the investigation into her death said.

 

Samui Police Lieutenant Colonel Thanongsak Aksornsom also said the suspected killer of 21-year-old Katherine Horton was likely to be a local man.

 

 

Miss Horton, a third year Reading University psychology student, was found in the sea off Koh Samui on Monday morning with head and body injuries caused by a blunt object.

 

A post mortem examination also indicated that she had been dragged into the water.

 

Katherine's mother, Elizabeth, heard her daughter scream while on the phone to her on the evening of New Year's Day before the line went dead.

 

"We've launched an investigation into possible suspects," Lt Col Thanongsak Aksornsom told local media.

 

"The suspect is probably a Thai national and we believe he is still on the island."

 

He added: "There was probably a rape.

 

"We don't want to disclose too much information about the possible suspects right now because it might endanger our chances of catching the culprit."

 

Freelance journalist Andrew Drummond said police were carrying out DNA tests on people who were in the area at the time of the death. He added that he would not be surprised if Miss Horton was killed by a Thai national.

 

 

©2006 Associated New Media

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many farang women and other nationals have been murdered over the last 25 years or so ,its nothing new .

its a strange paradox that nobody would ever declare thailand as being unsafe despite all the tourists that have been murdered over recent decades . and there are a lot of them too.

 

here is a few from archives

***********************************

Female tourist murdered on Samet isle

 

A CANADIAN woman was murdered early yesterday

morning at the Diamond Beach Bungalow resort on

Samet island off the coast of Rayong province, police said.

 

Police have arrested Amnuay ''Su'' Thanomjit, 28, a

ferry-boatman employed by the resort for a little

more than a month, on suspicion of murdering

Heather Novat, 22, after peeping at her while she took a shower.

 

Novat, after a drink or two at the resort bar, went for a

shower around 1.30 am clothed only in a large towel

some 100 metres away from the bungalow she was

sharing with two other Canadians -- Ferris Aufus, 22,

and Anna (last name unknown), also 22, police said.

 

Police claimed Amnuay confessed to peeping at Novat

as she was showering and then grabbing her in a

headlock from behind as she left the bathroom. When

she resisted, the suspect allegedly stabbed her with a

knife six times before cutting her throat, police said.

 

The suspect allegedly dumped the body in a pool about

50 metres from the scene of the murder.

So far, no charges have been filed.

 

Aufus and Anna said they tried to search for their

friend when she did not return from her shower but

only learned six hours later that her body had been

discovered in the pool.

 

Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart said he felt

sorry for the tragic death of Heather Novat and

planned to improve measures for the safety and

security of tourists.

 

The Nation

*******************

 

 

A Thai monk addicted to amphetamines has confessed to robbing and

murdering

23 year old solicitor Jo Macheder .He stole her camera and 500baht and

then

pushed her into a 30ft ravine, while she was touring Wat Kao Poon ,a few

miles outside Kanchanaburi. He denied raping her but admitted raping

another

tourist a year ago. He then covered her body in the ravine and burnt her

passport and stole other effects,credit card and clothing.The monk, 25

year

old Yodchart Suephoo was an ex-convict who had served 2 years for a rape

charge.Police acting on a tip-off found a hired bicycle at the temple and

 

then searched the monks rooms where they found her possessions and some

amphetamines,known locally as "horse".

 

On December 13 an Austrian tourist, Inge Holecek, wrote to the

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Bangkok Post saying that she had been raped in the temple grounds by a

monk on December

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Mother seeks justice for murdered son

 

A Canadian mother is seeking justice for her son who was murdered in

Pattaya 15 years ago. His killers are known but they?ve never been

brought to trial. The Nation?s Phil Macdonald takes up the story.

 

Joe Gaal, a 29 year-old Canadian photojournalist, was brutally

murdered in Pattaya in April 1989. At the time he was staying at the

Ocean View Hotel, owned by Wolfgang Urlich and his partner, Lothar

Kroehn.

Urlich, who was once described by a prominent Thai politician as the

worst foreign criminal living in Thailand, was extradited from

Thailand to Germany a few years ago.

 

****************

 

Thai taxi driver arrested for slaying of British tourist

 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A British man was found dead with his throat

slit Wednesday near Thailand's famous tourist resort of Pattaya, and a

taxi driver was arrested on suspicion of killing him, police said.

 

The body of Bernard Norman LeCourt, 52, a chef from Liverpool, was

found in some bushes near a road in Chonburi province's Sattahip

district, 70 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Bangkok, said police

Maj. Kataphol Somnuek.

 

"He died after his throat was cut deeply by a knife,'' said Kataphol,

adding that the victim's money, camera and video camera had been

stolen.

 

Police arrested a taxi driver who is suspected of killing LeCourt after

picking him up in Pattaya on Tuesday night and allegedly robbing him in

order to repay a huge gambling debt, Kataphol said.

 

The suspect faces the death penalty if found guilty of murder.

 

LeCourt traveled to Thailand alone on Feb. 24 and was scheduled to

depart early Wednesday.

 

His body is in hospital awaiting an autopsy by Thai authorities.

*************************

 

econd German slain in Krabi

The Nation, Agencies

Published on Nov 30, 2001

 

A female German tourist died yesterday after she was stabbed on a

beach in Krabi, a southern resort where another German citizen was

similarly killed last month.

 

Police identified the victim as Petra Sabine Sack, 33, who was found

unconscious lying in a pool of blood on Wednesday night at the Hoaw

Nang beach in the resort province of Krabi.

 

She was rushed to the hospital and died at 2.00am, said a police

official, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said witnesses saw

Sack walking alone on the beach and later saw three men running away

from the direction where the woman was found. Police said they are

hunting for three suspects.

 

Sack was stabbed in the neck, stomach and back, the German embassy

said. She had arrived in Thailand on November 19.

 

Police said they believe the stabbing was linked to a robbery.

 

Last month, a 21 year old ethnic Vietnamese-German woman, Cao Thu, was

killed in Krabi. Local fishermen found her body floating in Ao Nang

bay off Krabi on October 3. A speedboat driver was arrested

and

sentenced to life in prison for killing her. He confessed in court

that he killed her for money.

 

******************

 

Witness recalled cab licence plate

by Manop Thip-osod

 

A witness who saw a Finnish woman get into a cab led police to the man

who allegedly killed her _ the driver.

 

The witness was able to recall the taxi's licence plate number.

Without it, police say they may never have found the man they have

charged with her death.

 

Mary Susana Moilanen, 21, a frequent visitor to Thailand, was found

dead in a coconut grove in Bang Bon on May 26. Before her death,

Moilanen visited Chon Buri with two women friends and went to Samui

island to see another friend, a Thai man.

"The Thai friend was unable to help us because there was evidence the

victim had already returned to Bangkok on Bangkok Airways,'' a

detective said. Her flight landed at Don Muang at 12.50pm on May 24.

"A witness said Ms Moilanen left her luggage at a counter in the

departure lounge because she planned to leave for Finland the same

night.

 

"She had planned to meet friends at Khao San road before the flight

but did not turn up,'' the detective said.

 

Moilanen did not take a taxi from the airport's taxi service. Police

tried tracing her through belongings such as her mobile phone and

camera.

 

Police knew that someone later used the phone with a new SIM card but

said tracking it down would have taken a long time.

 

Ten days after the body was found, a witness told police she saw the

woman get into a cab with the licence number 4725. The cab picked her

up at Amari Airport Hotel.

 

Police said a hotel worker who saw the victim leave partially recalled

the licence number after learning about her murder from police. The

witness was unable to supply the Thai letter prefix, which left police

with a problem as there are hundreds of taxis with the same number.

 

However, they eventually spotted the man they believed was

responsible, roaming the Lat Phrao area.

 

The cab driver, Khampol Senapak, 29, was arrested at 2am last

Saturday, 15 days after the murder.

 

Police said the suspect admitted stabbing Moilanen while she was in

his taxi. When she fled from his cab he followed her into the coconut

orchard and continued stabbing her until she was dead.

 

She was carrying 500 baht in cash, which he spent on jeans at

Chatuchak market. He sold Moilanen's phone for 1,600 baht and gave her

camera to his wife in Si Sa Ket.

The person who bought the phone confirmed Khampol as the seller, and a

film found in the camera contained pictures of the victim.

 

"But without the witness who told us the licence number, we might not

have reached the killer,'' the detective said.

 

**************

 

Rental van driver arrested for murder

Admits to slitting German tourist?s throat

PATTAYA MAIL 17.11.2000

 

Jurint Khaosa-ad was arrested in Nakorn Sawan on November 10 and

brought back to Pattaya to stand trial for the October 24 murder of

German tourist Guenter Girresser.

 

Jurint slit Girresser?s throat during a fight at the V.I.P. beer bar

on Pattaya-Naklua Road after Girresser allegedly refused to pay Jurint

his fee for a rental van. Girresser, 44, died in hospital four days

later.

 

Pattaya tourist police issued an arrest warrant for Jurint Khaosa-ad

based on evidence gathered at the scene and testimony from

eyewitnesses.

 

Police Maj. Powaris Lilasiri, chief inspector of tourist police

department 3 in Pattaya, led the investigation team that tracked down

Jurint, who was hiding out in Nakorn Sawan, an area known in Thai

circles for having assassins for hire.

 

Jurint was apprehended at a roadblock set up by Ladyao municipal

police in Nakorn Sawan. He was then turned over to Pattaya tourist

police and escorted back to Pattaya.

 

Jurint admitted to the assault, but told police that he had no

intentions of killing Girresser. He said the German?s refusal to pay

for the use of his van irritated him and when he tried to collect the

fee, the intensity of the argument flared. Jurint said he became

enraged further when Girresser pushed him around and used abusive

behavior. He said he retaliated by using the ignition key to slash out

at Girresser?s head, although witnesses to the assault reported seeing

Jurint using a knife.

 

Jurint said that after he realized what he had done, he fled in fear,

not sure of what to do or where to go.

 

The reasons for Girresser?s refusal to pay for the cost of hiring the

van and driver are still unclear, but may become evident when Jurint

stands trial.

 

Jurint has been turned over to Pattaya municipal police for further

disposition until going to trial.

****************************

 

Dutch investor shot dead

Bangkok Post 20. May 2002

 

A Dutch investor has been shot dead at his prawn farm in Hua Sai

district, Nakhon Si Thammarat.

 

The body of Sebastian Lodewilk, 45, was found beside a breeding pond

on his farm at Ban Tale Pang, tambon Hua Sai, yesterday afternoon,

police said.

 

He had been shot twice, in the chest and the arm, and had been dead

for six or seven hours, police said.

 

Lodewilk had invested in the 10-rai prawn farm with a Dutch business

partner who had returned to the Netherlands three days previously to

arrange fresh funding for the farm, which was running at a loss.

Police investigators said they were looking for Lodewilk's two farm

labourers, who disappeared after the murder.

 

Lodewilk was known to have about 80,000 baht in cash in his possession

before his death, but the money was not on his body when it was found

at 2.20pm.

 

Police are trying to determine whether the money had been stolen or

been secreted somewhere. A small gold necklace he wore was untouched.

 

 

In a separate incident, a tourist from the Netherlands fell to his

death on Wednesday night while visiting a scenic waterfall in northern

Thailand, police said yesterday.

 

Tourist police said Pellikaan Pascal Carlos Estel, 27, was visiting a

cave and waterfall with several friends when he slipped and fell into

a 30 metre deep crevice at about 7pm on Wednesday in Mae Hong Son

province.

 

Police were informed of the accident at 10pm and asked for help from

the border patrol police to retrieve the man?s body.

 

Mae Hong Son tourist police officer Major Suvith Rattanachai said

local police and border patrol police were working yesterday afternoon

to remove the body from the deep crevice.

 

?We believe we can get the body out by this evening,? he said

yesterday.

 

Kroehn?s years of involvement in mafia activities in Pattaya lead him

to be declared persona non grata by the Thai government. He now lives

in the Malaysia, from where German Interpol is seeking his

extradition.

 

At the time of his death, Gaal was covering the Afghan-Soviet War. He

had come across a story and started asking questions certain people

did not want asked ? especially those involved in the drugs trade in

the city.

 

Through a middleman, possibly Kroehn, a hit was organised. Gaal was

lured to his death by a treacherous girlfriend.

 

Mid-ranking Pattaya police officers were also involved.

 

Photographs obtained by his mother, Arlene Gaal, show Joe suffered

terribly before his death. He was severely beaten. His skull was

fractured and his tongue was cut out.

 

After the beating, he was drowned in a toilet bowl and his body dumped

in a swimming pool at the Ocean View Hotel.

In an odious cover up (even by Thai police standards), the coroner

ruled that Joe Gaal had accidentally drowned.

 

For 15 years, his mother Arlene has shown remarkable courage,

persistence and resolution in her fight to bring about justice. She is

fighting for something she should not have to fight for.

 

Gaal?s murderers are known.

 

Any justice system with a semblance of decency would have locked up

the killers of Joe Gaal 15 years ago.

 

What follows is a letter from Arlene Gaal detailing the events

surrounding her son?s murder.

 

Dear sir,

 

Fifteen years ago in the early hours of April 30, 1989, Joe Gaal, a

29-year-old Canadian photojournalist was murdered while a guest at

Ocean View Hotel in Pattaya. Joe was taking a break from the ravages

of the Soviet-Afghan War, and intended to return to his home base in

Peshawar, Pakistan.

 

Joe was working on a story, he asked many questions of drug, mafia

persons in Pattaya, and as a result lost his life, not on the

battlefield of Afghanistan where he had been stationed as a journalist

but instead as a guest in [Pattaya].

 

Asking questions of the wrong people about the wrong subject cost him

his life. He was lured away by a Thai girl, befriended by two Pattaya

police officers and assassinated by a hired hit man.

 

Joe Gaal was murdered early in the morning of April 30 in a hotel room

in the presence of two Pattaya Police officers, a girl and a hired

assassin. He had been severely beaten.

 

A taxi driver, whose name I believe was Noom, drove Joey to his death

and later helped return the body to Ocean View Hotel.

 

Sintan Wanlop knows what happened as does former Pattaya Police

Captain Cherchai Karnslip, [and] Police Captain Prabhas Maunpew, and

Lt-Colonel Parait Supasawat who stated that Joey was a victim of

gangs.

 

Joe?s murder was made to look like an accidental drowning, and the

Thai autopsy report stated: ?No wounds or injuries of any kind on the

body.? [This] was later proven false by the discovery photos obtained

by our family.

 

Joey was severely beaten, with massive bruising to his face, mid

forehead skull fracture, lacerations and dried blood which should have

washed off had he died in the pool.

 

There are persons in Pattaya and other areas who know what happened to

Joe Gaal and are fully aware of why his life came to an abrupt end.

Hopefully they will have the courage to come forward and help provide

the needed closure for our family here in Canada.

 

For those who believe too much time has lapsed for justice to be

served, here in Canada a 30-year-old murder case was solved just three

months ago and an individual was charged with second-degree murder.

There is no statute of limitations on murder, and as this case is not

closed, time has no bearing on all the evidence uncovered.

 

If you have any information pertaining to the murder of Joe Gaal, a

guest at Ocean View Hotel, your statements would remain confidential

and if it leads to an arrest and conviction a reward in US dollars is

still standing. Please contact me. Remember: ?The only thing necessary

for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing ...?

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Flashermac said:The Thai cops had better get this one solved -- and done fast. Otherwise, bye bye tourists.

 

I'm certain that you aren't the only one thinking this. It isn't difficult to imagine the extreme political pressure that is probably coming down on the Samui police to get this case neatly wrapped up and fast. Hopefully, the thai cops won't just grab some random known petty criminal and torture a "confession" out of him, but I could easily see that happening...

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I remember the famous "Backpacker Murders" were going on here in Oz the police took it very seriously and ran a campaign advising young tourists not to travel alone and stay in groups until the perp was caught. The murder won't jeapodise the tourist industry, the way the police and local media handle the situation will. The worst thing they could possibly do is hush things up.

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SAMUI MURDER: Police under the spotlight

Published on January 05, 2006 The Nation

 

Killing of another British backpacker attracts widespread international coverage. Pressure is mounting on Thai police to solve the murder of Welsh university student Katherine Horton on the resort island of Koh Samui amid intense international media coverage of the incident.

 

The body of Horton, 21, was found drifting in the sea on Monday a few kilometres from the beach where she had spent her New Year holiday. Samui police said she had been hit several times on the head and body with a blunt object before being thrown into the sea to drown.

 

Horton?s death has highlighted once again the safety of foreign tourists in Thailand after the high-profile murder of British backpacker Kirsty Jones in Chiang Mai in August 2000 and the fatal shootings of British holiday-makers Vanessa Arscott, 23, and her boyfriend Adam Lloyd, 25, in Kanchanaburi province in August 2004.

 

Responding to the urgency of the Horton case, senior police commanders said yesterday they had sent officers from Bangkok-based units to help local police in the investigation to ensure maximum efficiency in the attempts to solve the crime.

 

Horton?s family were scheduled to arrive in Bangkok from their home in Cardiff last night to claim her body and hear results of police?s investigation into the case.

 

Horton?s mother, Elizabeth, reportedly heard her daughter scream and then the phone cut at the time of the brutal killing on Koh Samui late on New Year?s Day.

 

Ruth Adams, 21, Horton?s friend and travelling companion, told police she had spoken to Elizabeth Horton by phone at her home in Cardiff the following day. ?She said ?Katherine?s mother told me that she heard a dog bark, then a scream, then the line cut,? Colonel Tirawat Wamsiton said.

 

When police checked an area just 300 metres from the bungalow where Horton had been staying at New Hut resort on Lamai Beach they found her telephone and red stains in the sand. The red stains turned out to have come from betel nuts.

 

Before her murder Horton, a third-year psychology student at Reading University, had spent a few hours dining with friends and chatting gaily, police confirmed yesterday. Her body was found off Thong Krok Beach a few kilometres from Lamai Beach on Monday.

 

New Hut resort owner Amnuay Dachana said: ?The last time I saw her was 9.30pm. The next time I looked was at 12.30am. Everyone had gone to bed and the lights were out.?

 

Lt-Colonel Dr Pattana Kitkailart, who performed the autopsy on Horton?s body in Bangkok?s Police Hospital, said the young Welsh woman had died from drowning after being beaten and thrown into the sea.

 

?There were wounds on her head from being hit with a blunt object and on her body and arms there were signs she had been dragged,? he said.

 

It was not immediately clear from the original autopsy if she had been raped, and ?further lab tests are being conducted to check?, he added.

 

Police on Koh Samui said on Tuesday night that they were looking into suspicions of rape.

 

A tourist spotted Horton?s body in the water on Monday and alerted Watchareon Kongman, a 24-year-old jet-ski rental boss, to bring it in.

 

Horton?s body was found half-naked. Her black dress had been pushed, perhaps by the waves, above her hips. She had bruises on her arms and shoulders.

 

At the New Hut bungalow resort, police escorted owners Amnuay and Jintana Dachana and 14 of their staff away for interviews.

 

Horton?s death has received intense media coverage internationally. Several major news agencies and websites of leading British media organisations, including The Sun, The Guardian, and The Times, ran stories on the case.

 

An article on www.icwales.icnetwork.co.uk said Horton was the seventh Briton to have been murdered in Thailand over the past 16 months.

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The officer, quoting the pathologist who performed the autopsy, said the bruising around Horton's head suggested she had been beaten, while scratches on her arms and back meant her body could have been dragged.

 

Thanongsak said police would examine the New Hut bungalow on famed Lamai beach where Horton was last seen by a friend on Sunday night, as well as the site where her body was found.

 

So the pathologist has already completed the autopsy. In the meantime the cops on samui are talking about how they plan to secure the crime scene. What, 2 days had gone by since finding the girl's body? These guys will get around to it soon enough i guess. Wouldn't want to appear to be getting pushed around just because of some media interest.

 

The situation is 100% normal however. According to the link provided by flashermac about the murder of Kirsty Jones in chiangmai 5 years ago:

 

Previous investigations into Ms Jones' murder have been criticised by the Jones family because the Royal Thai Police failed to seal off Ms Jones' bedroom, allowing forensic evidence to be contaminated.

 

Sue Jones (Kirsty's mother) said: "The investigation was fairly well botched from the start. There were an awful lots of mistakes made and hopefully they will have learnt not to make those same mistakes again this time."

 

 

The murder is bad enough but displaying thai style incompetence to the world might be the reason tourists say: Holy shit its a third world country down there better go to disney world instead.

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