“After reviewing the CCTV footage recently provided, we have decided to not pursue the murder charge against Mr Pendlebury,” Lt Col Jessada Saengsuree of the Kathu police confirmed today (June 10).
“However, standard procedure dictates that we must hand over all relevant evidence in the case to the public prosecutor so they can decide whether or not Mr Pendlebury should be charged.”
Mr Pendlebury was on his way home from a Rotary Club meeting just after midnight on March 11 when he stopped to film security guards from the Tai Pan disco ejecting two men from the nightclub.
He said a security guard ordered him to stop filming and then attacked him.
The security guard, 25-year-old Sanya Khlueawaengmon, was stabbed in the ensuing scuffle. He later died in hospital. (See story here)
Col Jessada declined to provide the CCTV footage to The Phuket News.
“At this stage it is still evidence that we must hand over to the public prosecutor,” he said.
Col Jessada explained that the new CCTV footage was also instrumental in the victim’s family decision to drop their complaint against the Mr Pendlebury.
However, Mr Pendlebury was fined B500 for carrying a knife in a public place, he said.
“And we are now looking to charge the other nightclub doormen involved in the incident with accessory to assault,” he said.