SoiledCowboy Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Buff must be sleeping right now, sooooo... Another young Australian has been shot in Thailand only days after a Queensland nurse died from a gunshot wound sustained during a Bangkok drive-by shooting. The 22-year-old Wagga Wagga man, Lee Burkinshaw, was reportedly shot in the abdomen in the early hours of yesterday, in what his father says might have been a mugging. "[The shooting's] been set up but what, who, the cause behind it, that's what we don't know and what the police are trying to establish now," Ian Burkinshaw told smh.com.au this evening, adding that police believed two Thai men were responsible. The shooting occurred in the Chantaburi province, about 245 kilometres south-east of Bangkok, on the Cambodian border. Mr Burkinshaw recalled the phone call at 2am (AEST) from a friend of Lee saying his son had been shot. "He was standing next to Lee [when he made the call] and Lee had managed to get up off the bed and say 'I'm right, I'm OK, dad.' He's pretty tough, the young fella." Mr Burkinshaw said his son was shot near to his Thai accommodation. "The bullet has ended up lodged in his abdomen. They've had to remove his spleen but other internal [organs] have been OK - it seems to have missed any of the vitals." Mr Burkinshaw said his son was expected to make a full recovery. "But the old man is certainly going to go over to make sure he gets on that plane to come home." He also praised the efforts of the local Australian consulate, which had done everything it could to help his son. "The consulate over there has been absolutely fantastic ... they had an adviser at the hospital he was at, they moved him from there because he didn't feel it was clean enough." Lee travelled to Thailand two years ago, and had been coming and going ever since, to study the gem-cutting trade. "It is the gem capital of the world, and a lot of the rough cut gemstones come into there to be cut and styled," Mr Burkinshaw said. "He's always had a great interest in that and we had the opportunity to send him across the learn more about it ... that's basically why he went over, to learn more about South-East Asia and to learn more about the gem trade." He said the risk of injury or death to Lee while he was travelling had been something he had worried about constantly. "It's always in the back of the mind that [it] can happen, so you never want to expect it but it's always there at the back of the mind." But don't blame Thailand, he said. "This is purely a one-off incident ... Thailand is a wonderful country, it's just an unfortunate incident." Queensland nurse Pam Fitzpatrick, 26, died last week after being shot in the neck while drinking with her sister and friends at a Thai bar. Thai police and Australian officials believe she was the innocent victim of a gang vendetta against the British owner of the Up2U Bar in Kanchanaburi, 120 kilometres west of Bangkok. From the SMH 30.06.06 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Encore Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 >Lee travelled to Thailand two years ago, and had been coming and going ever since, to study the gem-cutting trade.< Haven't heard that one yet. I suppose another valid reason to visit LOS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Another Aussie shot, out near Cambodia A second Australian has been shot in Thailand - a week after a Brisbane woman died in a drive-by shooting in Kanchanaburi. Australian Ambassador Bill Paterson confirmed yesterday that a 22-year-old man was shot in Chantaburi, near the Cambodian border, on Tuesday night. Leigh Birkinshaw, 22, from Wagga, south of Sydney, was now in a stable condition in a Bangkok hospital, he said. The circumstances in which the man was shot were not yet known, the ambassador said. Birkinshaw was moved to Bangkok on Wednesday from Chantaburi, which is about 245 kilometres southeast of Bangkok. Queensland nurse Pam Fitzpatrick, 26, died last week after being shot in the neck while drinking with her younger sister and friends at a bar in Kanchanaburi after the Australia-Brazil World Cup clash. More than 60 police are investigating that incident, but have little to show for their efforts to date. They are looking at whether the shooting was related to a dispute with the bar owner, or just a random attack by drunken youths. Jim Pollard The Nation 30/06/06 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous_Dog Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 A a valid reason to get mixed up with th wrong people too I imagine DOG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Lots of shady dealings in the gem trade down in that area. I'd been told years ago that it was a very dangerous there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bust Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 Sounds like a deal gone bad IMO. There is a racket going on at the moment where the gem traders sell to un-licensed buyers. They tip off the police who confront the buyer and usually place an extremely inflated value on the goods. You either pay the duty or they confiscate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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