2 more Rawai knife attacks on farangs :-(

[landofsmiles]

Bl##dy hell!...can't the Police do something about this!!? One guy had a machete strike his helmet then had guns drawn on him...is injured so has to delay his visa run yet still gets charged 3 days overstay even though he showed the police report to Immigration!!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Rawai attacks continue; Man survives machete attack

RAWAI: The late-night road attacks on motorcyclists in the south end of the island continue unabated, with two more reports of attacks in the last 24 hours and several others earlier this month continuing to pour in to the Gazette news desk.

Last night a 24-year-old Norwegian man, staying in Phuket on disability pension because he is officially registered as physically disabled in his home country, was kicked off his motorbike and robbed.

The attack occurred around the corner from Icon bar, where Australian tourist Sooz Lomas, 27, and a British friend were attacked on October 7.

The Norwegian man, who asked that his name not be reported, was robbed while he was still lying on the ground.

In Chalong about 1 am today, a foreigner who runs a business in Rawai was threatened by three knife-wielding teenagers. The attack occured outside a 7-Eleven branch located just 100 meters from Chalong Police Station.

A fight ensued and the police were called. The foreigner, who also asked that his name be withheld, told the Gazette that he was disappointed with the police response.

In breaking up the fight the officers seemed more concerned about him being a foreigner and involved in a fight than the knife-wielding teenagers, he told the Gazette in a telephone interview.

Also reported to the Gazette news desk today was an attack on another foreign tourist that took place at about 1 am on October 2 near Kata Viewpoint, the same area where Norwegian Simen Knudsen was murdered a week earlier.

New Zealand tourist Shaun Clotworthy, 49, told the Gazette,“I was heading down a very steep hill toward Kata and I was about three-quarters down to the bottom of the hill, where there is a sharp bend, when two men came from behind and kicked me off my motorbike,” he explained.

“As soon as I got up off the ground, one of the men attacked me with a machete. I was lucky I was wearing a helmet – the machete cracked it,” he said.

“I was able to get the machete off him, but then both of them pointed guns at me. It was very dark,

so I don’t know whether they [the guns] were real or not,” he added.

“They made off with my bag, which had my phone, camera and some books in it, but they didn’t get any money because it was in my pocket,” he said.

Another person soon came along on a motorbike and gave him a lift to the police box in Kata, where he handed in machete and police called for an ambulance to him to Patong Hospital, he said.

Mr Clotworthy needed three stitches in his left arm to closed the wound suffered from blocking the machete, he said.

In the fall off the motorbike suffered a bruised chest and serious abrasions, he added.

“In total I had 20 wounds. I was unable to shower for two weeks. The worst, which have still yet to heal, are the toes on my left foot,” he told the Gazette on October 23.

He reported the attack to Chalong Police on the morning of October 3, he said.

“I have no broken bones, I’m lucky to be alive,” he said.

“I am disappointed with the police. They don’t seem to want to tell tourists about what is happening here. They must be able to do something. These people [the muggers] are in that area all the time.”

Adding insult to injury, Mr Clotworthy was forced to delay his visa run to via Ranong due to his injuries. Although he presented Thai Immigration officers there the police report about his attack, he was charged three days’ overstay, he said.
From Phuket Gazette

[landofsmiles]

......and more>>>

>>In addition to these two attacks above, I have since learned of another two in the same area: an English couple attacked and robbed on their motorbike - luckily only minor injuries; and an elderly German man smashed in the back of his head (no helmet) with a lump of timber while riding his motorcycle two weeks ago. He is still in a coma.

These last two incidents were told to me by a cook at a local restaurant who is employed by the 65yr-old Englishman attacked a few nights ago. The cook says word in the local Thai community is two gangs are doing the rounds - three thai youths and a ladyboy.<<

This is the "Englishman" referred to>>>

RAWAI: Briton Bill O’Hare, 64, was attacked while riding his motorbike home late on Saturday night. He was hit in the head with a piece of lumber and kicked in the ribs before his attackers took off after they were startled by a woman who witnessed the crime.

“I was riding my bike up the soi from Rawai Minimart, opposite Nikita’s, driving away from the beach. I was about 300 yards up the road when it happened,” he said.

Mr O’Hare explained that while he was riding up the dark soi, a motorbike pulled up alongside and then he was hit in the head. “Then my back tire was kicked out, and that sent me flying,” he said.

“While I was on the ground I could feel a guy going through my pockets. They took my about 2,000 baht, credit cards and my driving license,” he said.

A woman nearby who saw the robbery shouted at the robbers, who then fled the scene.

“I was taken to the Freedom Bar where they treated my grazed leg and called the police,” he said.

Mr O’Hare moved to Phuket seven months ago, but has been a regular visitor to the island for three years.

He also sustained a cut above the right eye. “My ribs are still sore,” said Mr O’Hare.

“This has happened in that soi before. About a month ago three Thai girls were robbed there,” he added. -Phuket Gazette)

[JayBee]

This news is not good at all. Seems like the local police just don't want to be bothered, except to take a report. I don't know how anyone can say that the roads in the Rawai area are not dangerous!

[landofsmiles]

Originally Posted by JayBee

This news is not good at all. Seems like the local police just don't want to be bothered, except to take a report. I don't know how anyone can say that the roads in the Rawai area are not dangerous!

There needs to be some sort of "reward' scheme for the Police to catch the bad guys then maybe they would try a bit harder. I mean if you were a policeman, what would you rather do?...go after these bad guys who are armed with clubs; knives and guns and who are prepared to use them, or stand on a street corner and stop motorcyclists for not wearing a helmet or having their licence with them and take your cut of the fine to boost your pay.

Seems there are some attacks happening that don't get reported too :-( Also there was a Thai on Thai shooting on a road near Chalong a few days ago that doesn't seem to have made the papers?