The tour shop owner, identified by police as only “Ms Wiri”, was charged for assault causing physical injury and carrying a weapon in a public place, Phuket Provincial Police confirmed in a statement issued this afternoon (Feb 6).
Phuket Provincial Police said the statement was in response to a news report by small local channel Krabi TV News Online. However, the incident was reported by, among others, the much more popular news show ‘News at Mor Chit Today’ broadcast by the national TV station Channel 7.
Ms Wiri acknowledged the charges against her, but claimed she was acting in self-defense, said the police statement.
The claim of self-defence contradicts a video of the incident posted online by the tourist himself, Fang Liqiao, who uploaded the footage to TikTok.
A copy of the video was posted on the Chinese social media platform Douyin, where the post received 2,684 likes and 1,290 comments.
The video shows Ms Wiri verbally abusing Mr Fang and making the effort to walk up to him and kick him. She then pulled out a folding knife and slashed at him. Mr Fang’s left arm suffered a light cut after he raised his arm to protect himself.
Police explained in their statement that the attack was the result of an argument over Ms Wiri, owner of the Blue Ocean Travel tour shop in Kata, refusing to refund the full deposit paid for a tour to the Similan Islands that the Chinese family never got to enjoy due to a mix-up over which resort where the tourists were supposed to be picked up.
On Jan 29, Mr Fang bought a tour package from Blue Ocean Travel for his family of four to enjoy a trip to the Similan Islands, police explained.
At that time the family were staying at the Pamookkoo Resort in Kata. The family were supposed to be picked up at the resort to go on the trip on Jan 31.
Mr Fang paid a deposit of B5,000 for the family of four to go on the trip.
On Jan 30, Ms Wiri called Mr Fang and asked him to pay the outstanding amount for the trip. Mr Fang said he would pay the rest to the driver when the driver came to pick them up, police said.
At that time, Mr Fang explained that he and his family were now staying at the Chanalai Flora Resort, also in Kata.
Ms Wiri told police that on Jan 31 she asked the driver to pick the family up at Chanalai Flora Resort at about 6am, but the driver could not find the tourists, so they missed the trip to the islands.
However, Mr Fang later showed police that on that morning he had made seven calls to contact the company, with no response. The company said later that the driver had gone to the wrong hotel, police reported.
Mr Fang finally managed to contact Ms Wiri that afternoon, and asked to be refunded his deposit.
He arrived at the tour shop, accompanied by Tourist Police “to help negotiate”, police explained.
However, the two could not reach agreement.
Ms Wiri was willing to refund B3,400, but not the remaining B1,600 Mr Fang had paid as a deposit. She had already paid the national park entrance fee of B1,600 in advance, she explained.
Ms Wiri said she was inside her office on Feb 1 when Mr Fang returned with his family at about 10am and again asked for his full refund.
She claimed that the Chinese tourist was ‘raging’ and hit the office’s glass window. She also claimed that Mr Fang had punched her twice, one of the two times was in the face, she said.
They all went out of the office, and that was when Mr Fang began recording the incident, Ms Wiri said.
In the video posted online, Mr Fang said the incident would be reported to the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok.
Col Pisit Sawadthavorn of the Phuket Tourist Police today said that police will report the incident themselves to the Chinese Embassy.
“We will not wait for the embassy to contact us. We will bring the investigation result to them. Phuket is welcoming a lot of tourists nowadays. We have to be a good host,” Col Pisit said.
Kurt | 08 February 2023 - 03:14:28