According to a report by the Phuket Info Center posted yesterday (Feb 13), the tourist attacked was William Lamarche-Saint-Louis, a 28-year-old French-speaking Canadian.
The report reiterated Mr Lamarche-Saint-Louis’s report that he was attacked by five men “late at night on Feb 10”. Mr Lamarche had already gone public to say that the attack happened at 2am the next day (Feb 11).
The tourist suffered a broken nose in the attack, which saw the five men reportedly flee with a Rolex watch and B50,000 cash, the report noted.
According to the report, apparently the attack was not a mugging. Instead, it was five men violently beating the tourist after an argument at a local “restaurant” where the Canadian allegedly refused to pay the bill.
How five men became involved in such an argument was not explained.
According to the report posted by the Phuket Info Center, the mother of one of the men involved in the “incident” explained the argument over the restaurant bill.
The report made no mention whether police had actually questioned any of the suspects.
According to the report, Maj Gen Sermphan has said that police must now wait for Mr Lamarche-Saint-Louis to return to Phuket from his trip to Phi Phi Island before they can proceed with their investigation.
Mr Lamarche-Saint-Louis left for Phi Phi Island only yesterday (Feb 13).
The report posted yesterday made no mention of any investigation into the claim by the tourist that he reported the mugging to a Patong Police officer on patrol nearby immediately after the attack, but that the officer refused to help.
It was also not explained why the Commander of the Phuket Provincial Police was required to explain the actions of a Patong Police officer, instead of Patong Police Chief Col Sujin Nilabadee.
The public response to the reported mugging has come only after local Thais posted online calls for police to help the tourist, with the comments starting to go viral on popular local social media pages.
skorchio | 16 February 2023 - 00:38:54