Australian woman facing jail in Thailand for stealing bar mat

technophobe wrote:I'd hardly call Thailand a developed country from a law and order perspective. You yourself have referred to Thailand as a third world country and it's hard to imagine a third world country with a first world legal system.

Look at the state the country's in politically, and the amount of people who live in abject poverty.

My knowledge of Thai law is admittedly virtually non-existent, apart from seeing the barbaric sentences dished out for drug offences, and also personally knowing of one guy who had to pay the police $3,000 to avoid being charged with possession of marijuana.

Does Guernsey have a first world legal system ? Do you consider 3 days in jail and 350 pounds fine acceptable for refusing to leave a pub? Thailand is a big country which has extreme wealth and extreme poverty,the guy with the 3000 usd to the copper should think himself lucky,the alternative of life in jail wouldnt have been nice,but this thread is regarding a theft now whatever country i have been in before theft is theft no matter which way you dress it up

If your happy to condone theft,then so be it

To then go and abuse the police resist arrest then abuse the chief of police is rather silly imo

Anomiso wrote:ok...I only know what is reported...and the culprits owned up...
but if you lot see it that way...you are welcome to Thailand.

Owned up ? To what ? She admits she abused police,she admits resisting arrest ,she admits abusing the chief of police,dont think she has.

Please dont tell me you believe "we hid it in her bag story " ? The bar mat is about one metre long "do you really believe you wouldnt notice that in your bag ?

Shes pleaded guilty in court given a 6 month suspended jail sentence and a fine of 1000 baht about 30 aus dollars


On her way home

Wonder why the silly bitch didnt do that when she was arrested ?


Seems lenient in comparison to Guernsey refusing to leave a pub 3 days in jail and a 350 gbp fine

Now I am wondering WHY your Governor General has seen fit to apologise to the silly so and so...AND pay her fine!
It appears that her being abusive to Police was her refusal to sign a statement, written in Thai that she could not read>
I heard an interview with her solicitors this morning...Very Interesting!!!
She was asked to plead guilty so the Police could "save face" .
The Attorney was berated by the interviewer for taking the case to the Press He freely admitted it and explained that, after two weeks of trying to work through the "proper channels of the Judicial System" and getting nowhere...
a bit of Bed Press in Australia, suddenly freed up a courtroom and a judge to hear the case, with the result we know.
As I said at the beginning of this discussion...."lets get a bit Realistic"!!!

If I might be permitted an "addenda"
http://www.legalaid.vic.gov.au/2035.htm

Can't open that - not even with cutting and pasting

Chok

Where does your example of Guernsey justice (3 days in jail for refusing to leave a pub) come from?

I think it happens if people are drunk and disorderly on a Friday night and have to be detained until court sits on a Monday (or as in this week-end with Monday being a holiday, it would be Tuesday).....some people who are homeless do this deliberately because they know they are assured of a bed and three meals for the week-end.....who can blame them if that's what it takes....

Just tried it...works fine for me!

have sent you a PM no can open

[quote="Chok Dee Ja
Please dont tell me you believe "we hid it in her bag story " ? The bar mat is about one metre long "do you really believe you wouldnt notice that in your bag ?[/quote]

YES........A number of times on a girls night out...My friend Aussie Delight will fill my bag up with bar mats....ripped up bits of paper ..u name it ..if it'll fit into my bag she will do it lol...she thinks its hilarious...lol..(remind me to point this thread out to her).... i never notice it till im home ...or even the next day when i go to empty my bag.....and my bag on a night out is a small one....

My link relates to "shoplifting penalty" inflicted in Australia...
I thought that was the only "crime" I could relate to something this silly!!!

We never paid for bar mats anyway - they were for promotion and came from the company's promoting themselves - which means if people took them they would remember the product!!!! same with ashtrays etc etc.

A bar mat made of rubber one metre long designed for the specific bar as a tourist souveneir with a retail value of 60 aussie dollars


Its called theft PLAIN AND SIMPLE

If anyone on here can honestly say they wouldnt notice such a object IN THERI BAG is beyond belief

THIEF

AND NOW A GUILTY ONE WITH A CRIMINAL RECORD

SIMPLE AS

So , Chock, please explain why Your Gov Gen apologised to her and paid her fine!
In Europeit was called "souveniring" and treated like a sport and a bit of fun...
and KK has just explained to you how it can happen, without your noticing that someone stashes things in your bag, especially after a few drink...and please don't tell me that you have always been on your best behaviour after a few drink too many on a holyday...because that would make me close the connection to VDI for ever! :x
THIEF is a big Tag indeed to pin on someone that never knew that she had taken something in the first place!!!...and abused the Police in a language that they did not understand!
Please Chock, get off your "High horse"...on a world scale of Abhorrent act ...this is a laughing matter....or would you jail a child that has "stolen" the last cookie from the cookie jar???

Anybody who can put their hand on their heart and swear that they have never done anything stupid while under the influence of drink is IMO either being economical with the truth/has a bad case of amnesia or is so 'pious' they should not actually be walking among mere humans.....

oh la la...i could tell u a few things ive done while under the influence. :kk-ss: No maybe i couldn't... :thistle 1:

I am very thankful i've never been arrested..LOL

Note to me - Please remind Aussie Delight & Sexy Spikes not to fill my bag with the pubs mats....pens.......or anything loose on the table..

Would the person that "souvenired" my olives and nibbles forks, please return them at their earlier convenience!!!...
and if you have thrown them in to the trash , while trying to help when "under the influence" and after I asked you to leave everything and please go home with your sober friend...
"A Pox on thee!"...I Liked them little forks! They had cute little green pears on the handle...

Oh my stars! I thought you'd given them to me I'll return them on my next visit - just please please 'un-pox' me..... :-)

guess what i found in my bag this morning ?!?!...............

:-)

A bar mat made of rubber one metre long designed for the specific bar as a tourist souveneir with a retail value of 60 aussie dollars

?????






.

cardboard beer mat 3inch square............they did it to me once again.... :roll:

Off to the slammer for you KK!!!

Just come across this thread. Definition of theft runs something like "taking the property belonging to another with the intention to permanently deprive the other"
Doesn't mention that you can souvenir or take something when drunk. Both are not acceptable excuses. All I have read on this thread is a person can steal and it is acceptable to do so if you are having fun. If everyone took a bar mat the bar would go broke.
Be reasonable she stole, she did a runner, so she had something to hide. As pointed out 1st World Guernsey was locking people up for drunk and disorderly till the next court session and I know people who have been arrested for taking a glass from a Guernsey pub, why cause it is theft and a publican gets a bit upset when people knick his stuff.
So lets make fun of her but stay grounded and remember it is theft, she stole, she was drunk, possibly abusive then I bet very scared when sober. She wont do that again. Being drunk doesn't make it right.

I compliment you on your high moral standard, Plimmerton
But you and I don't even know for sure that she actually took the blessed thing, or it was indeed one of her friend that did it, as a drunken joke!
Personally I would rather see the police chasing the three man that
killed a guy in Melbourne, than fled back home to Tahiland... to me, that
would seam a much worst crime...

I would also like to see more serious crime addressed, however that is not the discussion point, in fact it is just more smoke clouding the issue. The forum seems to think it is in order for a drunken woman to take something that is not hers, some think it is okay because she is drunk, some call it souveneering, personally I call it theft and she should be arrested. Correct we do not know if it occurred but the forum drew its conclusions that it did. My comments are directed at those in the forum who consider it acceptable. If that is a high moral standard then thank my parents.

The point that I was making all along, Plimmerton, was that the punishment should fit the crime!
In this case it seamed a bit "over the top"...a fine and a reprimand...I even added a request for her never to return to that Country.. would have been a more sensible way of handling that!

Perhaps the punishment is a bit over the top but we know that if we go to countries that are not similar to our own we should tread carefully and not upset the local police/military cause human rights is well down the scale.
For me it is not the fact that the punishment is over the top, that is not the worry, it is the acceptance of the forum that she did wrong and the use of being drunk as an excuse, that concerns me.
Look she is a big girl, she got drunk, may have been abusive, in a foreign country, she deserves the wake up call. Thailand may be third worldish but you know that before you go and you should still show respect, even in some of your posts in this thread you have been condescending to the Thai's and your sober.

Plimmerton,
What I did accept was the fact that she, or her friends did something very stupid, my argument was with the treatment she received
As for being condescending...I am afraid that a Police force that can disregard the law of their country(ie prostitution) and that aid and abets the smuggling of people, but than acts all righteous at a minor offence, will never gain my respect.
It is quite obvious that we are not in agreement on this subject, so...
Shall we agree to disagree and close this discussion?