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Canadian tourist is shot dead


Flashermac

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Is it just a coincidence that the Farang ex-boyfriend shows up and gets shot by a stranger the first time he meets the gal and her new Thai boyfriend?

 

:hmmm:

Well I'm not reading too much into that. Leo, according to Ms C was merely a college boyfriend for a short period of time a couple of years if not more back. But they remained friends.

Maybe the Thai guy though there was more there but from his conversation he did not seem to concerned.

Miss C though I think has been a little high profile in Pai. Not always a good thing

 

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Quote from a moderator on another thai forum.

 

I spoke with two eyewitnesses on the scene in Pai, including the owner of the roadside restaurant. Both said the couple were definitely fighting and that Daeng (restaurant owner) asked the policeman to try and stop the fight. Both descriptions of events matched the latest Bangkok Post report, below.

 

Reisig is allegedly known in Pai for aggressive behaviour towards both resident farangs and Thais, had struck a policeman (the same policeman?) in Be-Bop Bar a few weeks earlier, and was seen fighting with her Thai boyfriend at the most recent Pittalew party. Another related point -- Feun, the Thai boyfriend, had been arrested for drug possession in front of the polica station a few months ago. This isn't to say the shootings were in any way deserved, just that there may have been personal history issues involved.

 

Policeman faces murder charge

 

CHEEWIN SATTHA

 

Chiang Mai _ A policeman who shot dead a Canadian tourist and wounded his girlfriend in Mae Hong Son's Pai district was yesterday charged with premeditated murder and attempted murder. Pol Sgt-Maj Uthai Dechawiwat was released on bail, said the chief of the Provincial Police Region 5, Pol Lt-Gen Theerasak Chookitkhun.

 

The shooting occurred on Sunday when Pol Sgt-Maj Uthai tried to break up an argument between the couple, Leo John Del Pinto and Carly Reisig, outside a restaurant after the man accused his girlfriend of having an affair with a Thai man.

 

The off-duty police officer said he was asked by the restaurant owner to help stop the argument.

 

Pol Sgt-Maj Uthai fled into hiding before turning himself in yesterday to fight the charges in court. He maintained it was an accident, telling investigators he was attacked during the scuffle and drew his gun to fire a warning shot.

 

He claimed the tourists tried to snatch the weapon from him and it accidentally went off. Del Pinto was hit twice and his girlfriend once. She was rushed to a hospital in Chiang Mai and treated for a wound to the right hip. Pol Lt-Gen Theerasak said Ms Reisig was still in shock and not ready for questioning.

 

No order to suspend Pol Sgt-Maj Uthai from work has been issued so far.

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"Reisig is allegedly known in Pai for aggressive behaviour towards both resident farangs and Thais, had struck a policeman (the same policeman?) in Be-Bop Bar a few weeks earlier, and was seen fighting with her Thai boyfriend at the most recent Pittalew party."

 

IF that turns out to be true I think the cop will get off.

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Chiang Mai _ A policeman who shot dead a Canadian tourist and wounded his girlfriend in Mae Hong Son's Pai district was yesterday charged with premeditated murder and attempted murder. Pol Sgt-Maj Uthai Dechawiwat was released on bail, said the chief of the Provincial Police Region 5, Pol Lt-Gen Theerasak Chookitkhun.

 

Premeditated ..and out on bail.... :doah: ..TIT

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Quote from a moderator on another thai forum.

 

I spoke with two eyewitnesses on the scene in Pai, including the owner of the roadside restaurant. Both said the couple were definitely fighting and that Daeng (restaurant owner) asked the policeman to try and stop the fight. Both descriptions of events matched the latest Bangkok Post report, below.

 

Reisig is allegedly known in Pai for aggressive behaviour towards both resident farangs and Thais, had struck a policeman (the same policeman?) in Be-Bop Bar a few weeks earlier, and was seen fighting with her Thai boyfriend at the most recent Pittalew party. Another related point -- Feun, the Thai boyfriend, had been arrested for drug possession in front of the polica station a few months ago. This isn't to say the shootings were in any way deserved, just that there may have been personal history issues involved.

 

Policeman faces murder charge

 

CHEEWIN SATTHA

 

Chiang Mai _ A policeman who shot dead a Canadian tourist and wounded his girlfriend in Mae Hong Son's Pai district was yesterday charged with premeditated murder and attempted murder. Pol Sgt-Maj Uthai Dechawiwat was released on bail, said the chief of the Provincial Police Region 5, Pol Lt-Gen Theerasak Chookitkhun.

 

The shooting occurred on Sunday when Pol Sgt-Maj Uthai tried to break up an argument between the couple, Leo John Del Pinto and Carly Reisig, outside a restaurant after the man accused his girlfriend of having an affair with a Thai man.

 

The off-duty police officer said he was asked by the restaurant owner to help stop the argument.

 

Pol Sgt-Maj Uthai fled into hiding before turning himself in yesterday to fight the charges in court. He maintained it was an accident, telling investigators he was attacked during the scuffle and drew his gun to fire a warning shot.

 

He claimed the tourists tried to snatch the weapon from him and it accidentally went off. Del Pinto was hit twice and his girlfriend once. She was rushed to a hospital in Chiang Mai and treated for a wound to the right hip. Pol Lt-Gen Theerasak said Ms Reisig was still in shock and not ready for questioning.

 

No order to suspend Pol Sgt-Maj Uthai from work has been issued so far.

 

Yes. I have heard these reports from Pai several times now. So background checks are being done on both the girl and the policeman.

Sound logical that there was an incident in the recent past if not the immediate past

 

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I was not at all amused when my wife told me that when she started university the female acharn running the orientation warned the girls not to get involved with the Farang acharns. We would lie to them, break their hearts, use them etc etc. In fact, it was the Thai men who were doing the et ceteras. One 40-something Thai acharn got turned in by a first year student he'd propositioned, telling her he'd give her an A if she went to a hotel with him. (They punished the guy by transfering him to Chiang Mai University! :banghead: )

 

But oh, no ... it was the evil Farangs to beware of. There were a total of 5 of us. In fact, two of them were married and 2 were gay. That meant the warning more or less was about me!

:(

 

Every once in a great while, the Thais get it right! :neener:

 

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Suspect re-enacts shooting of 2 Canadians

STEVE SANDFORD

 

From Friday's Globe and Mail

 

January 11, 2008 at 4:46 AM EST

 

PAI, THAILAND â?? In a bizarre crime re-enactment, police officials in northern Thailand gave murder suspect Uthai Dechawiwat a plastic revolver to demonstrate how he was defending himself when he fatally shot Leo John Del Pinto and wounded Carly Reisig last Sunday.

 

Standing on the dusty road, in front of the Ting Tong reggae bar in the northern town of Pai, Mr. Dechawiwat acted out a struggle with two fellow officers, who were stand-ins for Mr. Del Pinto of Calgary and Ms. Reisig of Chilliwack, B.C., both 24 years old.

 

It was a clumsy affair and several of the officers laughed nervously while trying to re-enact the crime over a blood-stained section of the road. Mr. Dechawiwat was sweating profusely and appeared confused as officials ordered him to repeat several parts of the re-enactment.

 

It's customary in Thailand to reconstruct the crime scene of high-profile cases for the media. In this instance, there were just two members of the international press present.

 

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The officer maintains that the shootings were accidental and he was simply responding to a food vendor's request to investigate a domestic disturbance she heard near her restaurant. Ms. Reisig says she was the victim of an unprovoked attack that began when she was punched in the face and ended with Mr. Del Pinto, who tried to defend her, shot dead in the street and her in hospital recovering from a bullet wound in the chest.

 

Owner Saijai Gawin, who operates the late-night Pea Dang eatery, said Mr. Dechawiwat was picking up a take-home food order at her roadside stand when the commotion occurred nearby.

 

Mr. Dechawiwat told Ms. Gawin he had just finished a police shift at a border post 40 kilometres away. However, bartender Jarupong Sintop, who was serving cocktails at the outdoor counter at the nearby Bebop bar, says he saw the officer drinking beer at the bar earlier in the evening.

 

"I saw the policeman come into the bar around 10 o'clock and he appeared drunk. He kept asking me the same questions over and over again so I told him I was busy and ignored him," the 22-year-old explained.

 

Mr. Sintop finished work just before 1 a.m. and says he saw Mr. Dechawiwat again, this time drinking at the Don't Cry bar where Mr. Sintop had gone for last call.

 

The bars are within walking distance of the Bebop, where Ms. Reisig and Mr. Del Pinto, a former boyfriend, last drank.

 

Many aspiring musicians and weekend jammers congregate at the lively roadhouse, including 19-year-old Matt Ward, who arrived in Thailand last October for a holiday.

 

The Winnipeg native remembers passing Mr. Del Pinto and Ms. Reisig on his way home. "I couldn't believe in such a peaceful quiet, music-loving town like Pai, that something like this could happen."

 

Many patrons of the Bebop, as well as the nearby bars, described Ms. Reisig as speaking loudly and in an aggressive manner. But as one expat Swedish musician, who didn't give his name, commented, "Carly didn't fit in here in Pai with her hostile attitude, but nobody deserves what happened to her and John."

 

In contrast, Mr. Del Pinto was praised by most people in the community for his peaceful attitude and respect for the Thais. Guitarist Pu Ekkarat, who befriended Mr. Del Pinto just before the new year during a music session at the Bebop, was shocked by the news of the shooting.

 

"First of all, they should train the police how to control their temper and use their heart before they make any decisions," the 33-year-old said. "Too often they use violence to stop a problem."

 

Pai police chief Wanchai Suwansirikhet said he expects the investigation to be completed this month. Regarding criticism of excessive force used by Mr. Dechawiwat, the chief responded that he would have to wait until the forensic report is finished before commenting.

 

"We have temporarily transferred the suspect to work outside Pai district," the chief said. "We don't want his case to affect tourism in [the] area."

 

However, after the crime re-enactment, the accused returned to the police headquarters about 30 metres away, where he is purportedly still working.

 

Special to The Globe and Mail

 

 

 

 

 

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and now this:

 

Safe passage to Canada sought for Thai witness of Pai killing

The family of 24-year-old Leo Del Pinto, who was shot dead by a Thai policeman in Pai has called on the Canadian government to give safe passage to Carly Reisig and her Thai boyfriend, as they claim they fear for their lives.

 

In a statement issued through their spokesman Ross Fortune in Calgary the family complained that neither the Canadian or Thai Governments have provided answers to what happened to Leo, 24, from Calgary and Carly Reisig, 24, of Chilliwack, British Columbia early last Sunday morning.

 

"Carly and her Thai boyfriend are in fear for their lives and feel they require help from the Canadian government. The couple have been threatened that it is not safe for them to return to their residence in Pai as the police officer responsible is still out on bail.

 

"The Canadian Government has not assigned anyone to watch over and protect Carly and her boyfriend at this point in time. This is of great concern to the Del Pinto family as Carly and her boyfriend are the only two reliable witnesses to the murder of Del Pinto.

 

"Carly communicated that she and her boyfriend are attempting to return to Canada, where they will feel safer in continuing their pursuit of justice for Leo. This will require special accommodations by the government as her boyfriend is a Thai citizen. The Del Pinto family supports the decision for Carly to return to Canada and asks that the government expedites this process as quickly as possible so that Carly and her boyfriend can be in a safe environment."

 

Nobody in Pai has come forward to support Carly's claim that Sergeant Uthai Dechawiwat made an unprovoked attack on her and Leo and then deliberately shot Leo in the head, and later on the ground in the heart, before turning his gun on her.

 

Instead she has been called a 'troublemaker' who caused the incident by hitting the policeman.

 

Her Thai boyfriend Rattaporn Varawadee has remained by her bedside in Chiang Mai Ram hospital and has been careful to say little apart from "Nothing any of us did justifies the policeman pulling his gun and shooting."

 

Carly Reisig has insisted she will return for the trial of Sergeant Dechawiwat out of a Canadian Government 'Victims of Crime' fund. Yesterday she made an anxious call to Canada saying the police wanted to take her out of Chiang Mai back to Pai.

 

Andrew Drummond

Special to the Nation

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