Australian Lady's Thai Holiday, Turns into a Nightmare. Thailand.

An Australian lady is making news here in Thailand and also back on Australian shores.

Apparently the mother of 4 was a little drunk and the victim of a prank played by friends.

She was in the resort town of Phuket, at the well known Aussie Bar. When she was away from her bag a friend placed a bar mat in her bag. When she left the bar an undercover policeman asked to look in the bag and discovered the mat.

Okay a practical joke, a bar mat is all that was taken. Couldn’t be too much trouble, could it?

The lady spent 4 days in a Thai jail cell. She is now facing anywhere from 2 to 5 years in jail for the offence. She has been charged under a strange Thai law, ‘Night Time Theft’, this carries much hasher penalties than theft through the ‘Day Time.’

Now, it is really hard to know what is true and what isn’t. The lady is adamant that she is the victim of friend’s stupidity. Her friends have even signed statuary declarations to what apparently really happened. This so far has all fallen on deaf ears.

There is the other side of the story as well. The owner of the Aussie Bar, who hasn’t asked for charges to be pressed, has said ‘he believed she had been abusive toward the undercover police who had stopped her in the bar.’

This is a total no-no. I cannot tell anyone how careful you have to be when dealing with police, or anyone with some clout. You can end up in a really bad position if not careful.

The bar owner went on to say, “When they talked to her all they wanted to do was chastise her, (Thai police are very good at this) and they usually let you go, but she did a runner on them ... the police had to chase her down the beach.''

“When they took her back to the police station, she continued to abuse everyone at the police station including the chief of police ( A really bad idea if this is fact) and I think this is what the problem is.

“It's more of an attitude problem than a crime problem.''

The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd has expressed sympathy. "I think we're all human, and we all make mistakes and I'm one of them," he said.

Mr Rudd said Australian officials in Thailand were doing everything practicable about the case. "We also deal directly with the Thai authorities as well, to make sure that everything that can be done is being done," he said

The lady says she's “scared, helpless and alone'' and is pleading for the Rudd Government to intervene.

How can they intervene? Yes, it is pretty harsh but this isn’t Australia. It is another country, culture and whole set of laws. In Australia you might get a fine and that would be it.

Her husband has flown to Phuket and has said, “This is a complete joke - the Thai authorities have no compassion and no respect for Western women or the wrongly accused. It's just a joke.''

He isn’t doing any favours here. I cannot even start to think what he must be going through. I just hope he isn’t jumping up and down, screaming and yelling at the wrong people.

The sad fact is that many western men and women don’t have any respect for Thai people or their culture.

Noot came home the other night and commented on a foreign man who had married his Thai darling the day before at the hotel. They were in the coffee shop and apparently all over each other and were even kissing. This is just so disrespectful.

To foreign men walking about Thailand shirtless, this is disrespectful. Girls wearing bikini tops when walking around, this is disrespectful. This should all be left on the beach. This is just a few small things.

The lady’s husband says the action of the Australian Government and consular authorities had been “nowhere near good enough and he felt like he was chasing his tail" in Thailand.

Again how far can a government of another country go?

A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed a court hearing has been set for next Monday. The spokeswoman said consular assistance had been provided to the lady.

The lady is required to report to authorities every two weeks as a condition of bail and it is expected to be 14 weeks before her case is heard in court.

Her lawyer Bernard Murphy says she has been told she could face two to five years' in jail if found guilty of “night-time theft.''

I do believe this is really harsh. If her friends did actually set her up, then they must be feeling like absolute pricks. These are the horrible things that can go wrong in a foreign country.

This isn’t just a foreign thing. A Thai couple was sentenced to 3 years jail the other month for stealing 2 mobile phones and just over 2,000 Baht cash from a shop. It wasn’t armed robbery but was charged under the ‘night time law. They did this when the person had gone to the toilet.

I do hope that this ladies nightmare ends, but also hope it makes others aware of the dangers of practical jokes, being rude and not showing respect to people that you should in a foreign country.

Back in Australia you can call police any name you want. You can rant, scream, and do all sorts of things and nothing will happen. This doesn’t apply to Thailand.

Let this be a warning to all travelling to Thailand. Smile, say sorry, bow and kiss feet, do whatever is necessary to keep the right peoples’ faces happy.

I just read about a British man who is facing 2 years in jail for apparently abusing a Thai Immigration official. He was leaving the country and was stopped with what was thought a false passport, this wasn’t so. Read the story at the link above.

Brunty.