Officers were called to The Coffee Club at Boat Avenue plaza early yesterday afternoon after the altercation broke out, with the four people involved in the altercation later taken to Cherng Talay Police Station for questioning.
CCTV footage from the coffee shop showed the Thai woman, Kannamon Chatphichathorn, 45, sitting with the Englishman, who Ms Kannamon said needed help with renewing his visa, which she said had expired.
When she arrived at the coffee shop, the Englishman asked her to join him upstairs, Ms Kannamon said, adding that she thought it odd as the shop was empty of customers downstairs.
While the two were sitting upstairs, a foreign couple, who Ms Kannamon said were Ukrainian, walked up to her. The foreign woman can be seen forcibly taking Ms Kannmon’s phone from her. While Ms Kannamon was struggling to keep hold of her phone, the foreign man walked around her and took her bag.
The incident saw Ms Kannamon react violently, lashing out at the foreign woman, who was visibly hurt by being struck on the face.
The Englishman intervened, restraining Ms Kannamon from continuing her attack, while the foreign couple made their way out of the coffee shop. For some reason they can be seen lingering and talking to Ms Kannamon and/or the Englishmen before making their way downstairs.
Not ready to yield to the situation, Ms Kannamon continued her attempts to free herself from the Englishman’s hold, forcing him to wrestle her to the floor. The Englishmen quickly stood up and held his hands up while backing off, indicating that he wanted no more physical confrontation, yet had to intervene once more as Ms Kannamon dived to take his notebook computer that was still sitting on the table.
Police arrived and for some reason the foreign couple were still downstairs. The officers asked them to come to Cherng Police Station to resolve the matter. A lawyer was present at the police station to mediate.
Ms Kannamon told the press yesterday that she was offered B400,000 as settlement, which she said she had refused because she wanted criminal charges to be pressed.
Ms Kannamon did admit to the press that she had previously had business problems with the foreign couple.
Phuket Provincial Police late yesterday announced that they were aware of the incident and had ordered the Superintendent of Cherng Talay Police Station to “control, supervise and investigate in order to be correct and fair according to the law”.