PHUKET: This year’s Red Cross Fair ended on a bitter note, with incidents of lethal violence near the fairgrounds and a political protest that prevented one of Thailand’s most famous rock stars from taking the stage (story
PHUKET: The long-awaited manslaughter trial over the deaths of four people in Patong’s Tiger Disco inferno, in August 2012, will begin next month. Tiger Group CEO Piya Isaramalai and Sara Entertainment Co Ltd each face a charge of causing death through negligence under Section 291 of the Thai Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail. “They also face charges of causing physical and mental injury and trading after hours,” Phuket Provincial Chief Public Prosecutor Chiengsean Panhya told the Phuket Gazette.
PHUKET: Within two weeks, buses and trucks headed to Patong will be barred from using the Patong Hill road, government officials and bus operators agreed at a meeting yesterday. The one-month trial ban will force most heavy vehicles to choose alternate roads into Patong, but will permit them to use the hill road when they exit the resort town.
PHUKET: Rell Hayes, the Australian founder of the Stoney Monday Oasis Hotel in Phuket, has denied criminal charges of embezzlement and six counts of fraud involving more than 80 million baht.
PHUKET: Scuffles broke out in front of Wichit Police Station yesterday as tensions boiled over between Chinese-speaking Thai tour guides and Chinese nationals who they accuse of taking their jobs.
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut highlighted the good work done by the Phuket Tourist Police this morning, about a month after the reputation of the department was tarnished by an ex-member becoming a drug dealer. Phuket Tourist Police Inspector Urumporn Koondejsumrit was asked to attend the governor’s monthly meeting and speak about the opportunities for expats to become involved with the organization. “You must be willing to help others without expecting anything in return,” Maj Urumporn said.
PHUKET: A fight between two rival gangs left two Myanmar nationals dead and two others injured at Saphan Hin last night. Both gangs had attended the final night of the Red Cross Fair.
PHUKET: An attempted jailbreak from at Phuket Prison came to a shocking halt at 12:30pm today when an inmate trying to escape was electrified by wires strung across the top of one of the perimeter walls.
PHUKET: Ten motorists have been ticketed since Phuket’s four speed cameras became operational on December 25. “Anyone travelling over 90km/hr will be fined 500 baht each time they are caught on one of our cameras,” Lt Col Rungrit Rattanapagdee of the Phuket City Traffic Police Police told the Phuket Gazette today
PHUKET: As the one-year anniversary of the execution-style murder of Jintana Mahattanapak approaches, her family seeks to meet with Phuket’s new top cop for help in a case that appears to have gone cold. Ms Jintana, a human resources director at the time of her murder, was shot coming home from work on January 18 (story