panadolsandwich Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 The CCTV footage of the murder of Michelle Smith looked so common place - there was a disruption - if you look carefully you can see the flashing knife - then both ladies walk on - and chillingly you see Michelle notice the blood on her blouse. Not long after - she was dead - a puncture to the heart. I accept that the men were wanting the money in her handbag. I also acknowledge that it would be perhaps understandable to have a knife ready to cut the strap. Now what I don't think I'll ever understand is the sheer malice of the attack. You have to bear in mind that these are two elderly ladies, completely unarmed. It was just so spiteful and reviewing the footage - the most spiteful and cowardly thing I've ever seen. Why did he do it? I just can't understand it. Why kill her? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldFun Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 as they said when captured: to foot a 300bt bill in a bar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 This isnt restricted to Thailand - our cops are continually stunned by how quickly attackers go from 'zero to one hundred' in confrontation situations here in Oz. I dont know how many weapons are out there, but in everything from road rage to neighbourhood disputes there seems to be an automatic reflex to reach for a weapon. In the case of these two idiots, at least one could argue that they were 'desperate for money' - its not even that in many of the fatalities in Oz. Someone cuts you off in traffic and you beat them to death with a tire iron ? The Sopranos and Robert De Niro have a lot to answer for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panadolsandwich Posted June 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 This isnt restricted to Thailand - our cops are continually stunned by how quickly attackers go from 'zero to one hundred' in confrontation situations here in Oz. I dont know how many weapons are out there, but in everything from road rage to neighbourhood disputes there seems to be an automatic reflex to reach for a weapon. In the case of these two idiots, at least one could argue that they were 'desperate for money' - its not even that in many of the fatalities in Oz. Someone cuts you off in traffic and you beat them to death with a tire iron ? The Sopranos and Robert De Niro have a lot to answer for. So perhaps this is akin to road rage? All the petty frustrations, the imagined taunts, the setbacks in his life all culminated into a humiliating fight back from an elderley farang woman that just demanded swift retribution? I don't buy that. Most people think if she didn't struggle she would still be alive - but I'm not so sure. The more I think about it - the more I'm convinced that this was a thrill kill. Therefore it was certainly premeditated. The accuracy of the incisions also supports this. It was clear cut premeditated murder from what I can tell, but why her, and why anyway? Also note the level of resources levelled at solving this case - from the Prime Minister down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted July 1, 2012 Report Share Posted July 1, 2012 The killer said he only wanted to cut the strap on her handbag. You don't cut a strap with a thrust to the chest. And did you see the size of that blade? It was a butcher knife - the kind the American Plains Indians used to use to scalp their victims. I'd hazard a guess that the killer lost his temper when she resisted and intentionally stabbed her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallenda Posted July 1, 2012 Report Share Posted July 1, 2012 The killer said he only wanted to cut the strap on her handbag. You don't cut a strap with a thrust to the chest. And did you see the size of that blade? It was a butcher knife - the kind the American Plains Indians used to use to scalp their victims. I'd hazard a guess that the killer lost his temper when she resisted and intentionally stabbed her. To cut the strap, he would had to have swung the knife sideways through the straps, parallel to them, to cut them. But he thrusts the knife downward and forward into her chest, between the 2 straps -- not across them but between them, where the straps weren't. The video doesn't match his story. But what else is he going to say. Only total scumbags do motorbike robberies. Nobody with any sense of decency is going to get involved in that type of crime. They know going in that they may have to injure or kill the victim in order to not get caught, and they plan for that. Everybody knows big knives are dangerous. In Vietnam, they typically try to knock the victim down, especially if the victim is on another motorbike, yanking on the bag and trying to pull the whole bike down -- that way the victim can't chase them -- if the other bike goes down and the victim cracks their head open, that's fine, as long as they get away with their goods. Have heard many stories about these kinds of attack, and very bad injuries. I was driving once and when snatchers grabbed the purse of the girl on back of my bike. They got away. One Vietnamese woman told me a story of her bag getting snatched while she was shopping near Ben Thanh market, by 2 guys on a motorbike, which then lost control and hit a tree, driver lying on the ground hurt -- she walked up and kicked him in the head. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted July 1, 2012 Report Share Posted July 1, 2012 The same technique was around during the VN War days. Maybe not as common though, since many people were armed. (SVN regional forces and popular forces - black uniforms with military patches. Virtually all the South Vietnamese belonged to them. They tried to keep the VC out of the villages, since the VC would force them to supply them with food and be bearers for them.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallenda Posted July 1, 2012 Report Share Posted July 1, 2012 The guys who go do robberies using motorbikes, these are ones who have the serious hardcore criminal mentality: in their minds, they are the only ones who matter, and if their victims get in their way, then they will get hurt, and maybe they'll die, and that's just how it is. It's the rules of the game, and they consciously joined the game knowing the rules. Anyone who thinks that way deserves to be dealt with as harshly as the law allows. I'd be very surprised also if this attack was a first time one-off incident by these guys. Even the alibi seems weird. They owed a bar 300 baht -- and were able to leave the bar and not get the shit kicked out of them? I guess things really are a lot more friendly in Phuket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted July 1, 2012 Report Share Posted July 1, 2012 Both had criminal records, one of them a fairly long one. I was wondering myself how they got out of the bar owing money. This type was known as "Saigon cowboys" in RVN 40 years ago. They preyed mostly on GIs and tourists with cameras etc. Didn't see them much outside of the cities. The motorcycle thieves were a problem in Bangkok in the 1980s. The yen was very strong then and Japanese tourists were known to carry ridiculous amounts of money with them. One woman lost her handbag and reported to the police it contained over 100,000 baht, several thousand in US dollars and a large amount of yen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.