Crime

Australian Consular Officials Reject Bamford’s Phuket Rape Claim

Published

12 years ago

September 10, 2012

Bchcomber

Chiangrai Times – The Australian Government has flatly rejected allegations by one of their own citizens, Stevie Bamford, who went on Australian national television and accused embassy officials of telling her to lie about her alleged sexual assault ordeal on Phuket.

Ms Bamford, 21, alleged on the prime-time television show Today Tonight that Australian consular officials told her to confess to lying to police about being raped by three men in a tuk-tuk in Patong on June 10 – so she would be able to “walk away” from the incident.

However, in an email to the Gazette, a spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) stated that Australian consular officials at no time gave legal advice to Ms Bamford, or advised her to sign any statement.

Consular officials urged her repeatedly to engage a lawyer to advise her on legal proceedings, said the email.

“Consular officials from Canberra, Bangkok and Phuket provided extensive consular assistance to Ms Bamford, her boyfriend, her mother (while in Phuket) and her father (who remained in Australia) during the entire period from the initial rape investigation, her arrest, the court hearing, the lead-up to detention, detention and deportation from Thailand.

“Officials accompanied Ms Bamford to the police station during the initial investigation of her claims. A female Consul from the Embassy in Bangkok subsequently flew to Phuket to provide Ms Bamford additional assistance and to ensure that her rape allegations were taken seriously by police and that she received the appropriate medical attention.

“The Consul was present when Phuket police showed CCTV footage from the night of the alleged rape. During her subsequent arrest, consular officials provided extensive assistance.”

During her exclusive interview, billed as “Terror in Thailand” and introduced as “a chilling story of how an overseas holiday can go horribly wrong”, Ms Bamford tells Laura Sparkes, a senior Sydney-based reporter for the program, how she was held down and sexually assaulted.

Although the interview and footage shown was mostly produced in a way to support Ms Bamford recollection of events, and accuse the Australian authorities of encouraging a cover-up of a horrific encounter, it also questioned the veracity of those claims.

“Stevie Bamford is either a young woman denied justice in the most horrific way, or she’s a very convincing liar,” narrated interviewer Ms Sparkes.

During the interview, Ms Bamford explained that she was out enjoining the Patong nightlife with her boyfriend Tim Michael. “Somehow we lost each other in a mass of people,” she said.

However, in her previous statement to police when reporting the attack, Ms Bamford said that she and her boyfriend had argued, and he had stormed back to the hotel alone.

During the initial investigation by Patong Police, the motorbike taxi driver who took Ms Bamford back to the hotel said that he had escorted her to her room so she could get money to pay him. While she got the money, he noticed that broken items were scattered around the room.

In her narrative of events on the night of June 10, Today Tonight interviewer Ms Sparkes said, “Unable to contact Tim, drunk, disorientated and a little scared, Stevie says she walked toward the beach looking for a tuk-tuk taxi ride home. She then claims she was grabbed.”

Ms Bamford described being held by three men in what she believed to be a tuk-tuk. “It was a bit of a blur to me… I remember getting pushed down to the floor.”

When asked by Ms Sparkes where this occurred, Ms Bamford said, “I remember there was a roof above my head so I thought… just assumed it was a tuk-tuk… there were three men at the time… someone was holding my arms back, above my head and someone started taking my clothes off me and trying to sexually assault me.”

While Ms Bamford is telling Ms Sparkes of her ordeal, images are shown of bruising to Ms Bamford’s legs and small scratches to her back.

In the exclusive interview, Ms Bamford also accused Patong Hospital of not providing her with the results of a rape test.

While showing receipts from the hospital for tests that included “jabs”, “medicines” and a pregnancy test, Ms Bamford alleged that hospital staff denied showing her the rape test results, claiming that she had never received treatment at the facility.

Both Ms Bamford and her boyfriend reiterated that they were put in a position where Ms Bamford had no alternative other than to sign a confession saying that she had fabricated the whole rape story and lied to police.

It was either sign the confession or be jailed for more than three years for being found guilty of lying to police, Ms Bamford said.

Ms Sparks asked directly: “So the Australian Embassy were telling you to lie?”

To which Ms Bamford replied: “Yes, basically. They said ‘It’s for your best interests’.”

After Ms Bamford was sentenced to 15 days’ detention, her father, former Australian international rugby league player Peter Tunks, said he was phoned by an Australian Foreign Affairs official, who apologized for the sentence his daughter was given.

“She said that it was virtually unheard of in this kind of plea-bargaining case,” Mr Tunks said.

The bewildered father told Ms Sparkes that he was told that “all his daughter had to do was drop the charges, say she made it up and she’d get a slap on the wrist and get out”.

Although Mr Tunks did not attribute that statement to anyone in particular, it came right after Ms Sparkes had accused the DFAT of “hiding behind off-the-record chats and emails”.

Regardless, the DFAT are adamant that Australian consular officials in Thailand did not tell Mr Tunks that his daughter should lie and that he first time a consular official in Thailand spoke to Mr Tunks was after Ms Bamford had confessed, been convicted and sentenced.

In DFAT’s email to the Gazette, the spokesperson wrote: “At no stage did consular officials in Canberra tell Ms Bamford’s father (Mr Peter Tunks) that it was ‘in Stevie’s best interests to lie’ by signing a statement. Canberra consular officials’ first contact with Mr Tunks was on the evening of 19 June, 4 days after her court hearing at which she was sentenced to 15 days’ detention.

“The signing of a statement was not discussed during this, or subsequent conversations between Mr Tunks and consular staff. Consular staff underlined that DFAT was not able to provide legal advice and encouraged Mr Tunks to address legal aspects of her case with a lawyer.

“Subsequent contacts between Mr Tunks and consular staff took place on 20 June, 21 June, 22 June, 25 June, 26 June, 28 June, 3 July, 4 July, 6 July, 13 July and 18 July. DFAT records show that at no time was the signing of documents by Ms Bamford discussed in these conversations.”

In the Today Tonight program, Ms Bamford went on to describe the “prison cell” where she spent her 15-day detention. “It was just a small cell. You just slept on little disgusting mattress on the floor [which] had like blood and stuff all over it,” she said.

However, Ms Bamford was detained at the Bang Jo dentition facility in Cherng Talay, which is regarded a “soft” prison for inmates serving very short sentences or those undertaking a reintegration program as they about to rejoin society.– Mark Dee

Crime

Police Officer Being Ordained at Temple Arrested for Running Scam Call Center

Published

6 months ago

July 20, 2024

Thomas3940

Police Officer Being Ordained at Temple Arrested

Police in Northern Thailand have arrested a fellow officer as he was being ordained at a temple in Ngao district of neighbouring Lampang province.

Pol Lt Col Bandit Khonkan chief inspector from the Hang Dong police station was disrobed and taken to the Chang Puak station in Chiang Mai. He was arrested on charges of running a call centre scam gang in Chiang Mai Province.

According to Thai Media Chiang Mai Provincial Police Region 5 obtained an arrest warrant for Pol Lt Col Bandit on Friday from the Chiang Mai Provincial Court for procuring illegal telecom equipment, setting up a station and using public airwaves to run a telecommunications business without permission.

Pol Lt Col Bandit reportedly told investigators that he was not the ringleader and was only a member of the gang with Chinese partners.

His arrest followed the apprehension of his 26-year-old daughter, Miss Wanuchapond, 26, and three others during raids at three housing projects in Chiang Mai on Friday, Pol Maj Gen Weerachon Boontawee, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 5 told Thai media.

During the raids police police discovered around 12 GSM gateways, or SIM boxes, which are devices used for converting cellular networks into mobile phone numbers used domestically.

The chief inspectors daughter Miss Wanuchapond told the arresting officers that she was paid 8,000 baht a month at each of the three locations for renting thr rooms and monitoring devices.

She claimed she had no idea what the devices were and accepted the job because the pay was attractive.

Police investigators working with telecom regulators used a special tracking device to monitor the gang’s communications and learned that its base was in Myanmar opposite Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai.

The call center gang used the GSM gateways to make calls over the internet to scam people in Thailand out of million of baht.

The GSM gateways transmitting signals via SIM boxes to convert them into domestic phone numbers, duping victims into thinking they were being called from Thai government agencies.

Pol Maj Gen Weerachon said that each SIM box held 32 SIM cards, with a capacity of up to 300,000 calls a month. The seized devices had made fraudulent calls over 3.6 million times.

He said the their investigation is ongoing and they are working to track down the remaining conspirators, including Chinese and other Thai suspects.

Authorities are still deciding whether Pol Lt Col Bandit will be dismissed from the force, he said, adding that so far, no other officers are known to have been involved.

Police in Chiang Rai Launch Crackdown on Cyber Criminals in Golden Triangle

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Settha Thavisin has authorized the establishment of an emergency cyber center operated by the Royal Thai Police to combat transnational crimes committed by call center gangs along the Thai border in Chiang Rai province.

On July 19, Prime Minister Settha Thavisin directed the Center to combat information technology crimes. The Royal Thai Police (Royal Thai Police) will crack down on call center gangs in Myanmar, Laos, and along the border.

His directive comes as call center gangs ratchet up their scams to defraud people of their money, causing concern among Thais and jeopardizing the country’s economic and social stability.

Related Police News:

Machete Wielding Man Shot an Killed by Police in Chiang Rai

https://www.chiangraitimes.com/chiangrai-news/machete-wielding-man-shot-an-killed-by-police-in-chiang-rai/

Crime

Thai Immigration Police Arrest Colombian Tourists Over Home Invasions

Published

6 months ago

July 20, 2024

Thomas3940

Thai Immigration Police Arrest Colombian Tourist

Immigration police officers have arrested four Colombian nationals in connection with a series of home burglaries at luxury housing complexes in the Bangkok metropolitan area and Chiang Buri Province.

Pol Maj Gen Panthana Nuchanart, deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, told a press briefing that three of the suspects were apprehended in Nonthaburi Province and the fourth in South Pattaya, Chon Buri Province.

According to the Bangkok Post, the Colombians were charged with stealing conspiracy and seized around 3 million baht (US$82,500.00).

According to Pol Maj Gen Panthana, the criminals rode motorcycles through housing estates, scoping out the properties and waiting for the owners to depart before committing their crimes.

He stated that all four of the accused denied any involvement in the home break-ins, but the arresting squad discovered evidence that implicated them.

Police called to home invasion

Meanwhile, police were dispatched to a luxury housing development in Tambon Nong Prue, Chonburi Province, after a Chinese man was attacked during a house invasion.

When they arrived, they discovered the house owner, Mr. Qian Peng Yi, visibly scared and with marks from being tied up with a cable. He informed police that three Chinese males broke into his home at 9 p.m., one of whom brandished a gun at him and directed him to his bedroom.

They bound his hands and feet, gagged him with fabric, taped his head, and forced him into the bed. The intruders then attempted to compel him into transferring 10 million baht in cryptocurrencies to them, endangering the life of his 33-year-old cousin who was in a second-floor bedroom.

While they scoured the house in search of riches, Mr. Peng Yi managed to flee and hide; he subsequently observed them leave with his cousin. Officials investigated the property and analyzed security camera footage from the incident and surrounding areas.

Around 9 p.m., a 30-year-old van driver came at the Bang Lamung police station after being contacted by an agency to carry Chinese customers from Pattaya to Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The driver informed authorities that he was supposed to pick them up at a motel about a kilometer from the Chinese businessman’s home. He then drove them to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, arriving at 1 a.m. and receiving 1,800 baht.

The driver took a snapshot of the group smoking at the airport gate and identified one of them as the victim’s cousin. Police suspected coordination between her and the three suspects in her cousin’s heist, who all departed Thailand on the same aircraft.

Other Bangkok News:

Police in Bangkok Discover Six Vietnamese Tourists Dead in 5 Star Hotel

Police in Bangkok Discover Six Vietnamese Tourists Dead in 5 Star Hotel

Crime

Son of Thailand’s Leading Legal Scholar on Corruption Arrested for Running Online Gambling Network

Published

6 months ago

July 17, 2024

Thomas3940

The son of a former senator and leading economist and expert on corruption and gambling in Thailand has been arrested for on charges of running an online gambling network and its payment system.

Police from Thailand’s Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) have confiscated assets worth more than (US$ 11.1 million) 400 million baht.

Narote Piriyarangsan, 33, was arrested following crackdowns in three sites around the city, according to Pol Maj Gen Athip Pongsiwapai, commander of the police Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD).

Mr Narote’s father, Sangsit Piriyarangsan, is an economist who has written articles and books about corruption and gambling. He was one of the appointed senators that were investigating the government’s intention to legalize casino gaming before their terms expired.

Police also detained 39-year-old Narayut Narakaew, the owner of the gambling website 69pgslot.com. The Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the couple for operating an internet gambling service and money laundering.

According to the Bangkok Post, police seized two desktop computers, one laptop computer, 14 mobile phones, 21 bank passbooks, 53 ATM cards, and four high-end cars — a Ferrari 926 GTS, an Aston Martin, a Lexus, and a Subaru — totaling more than 400 million baht.

Police launched the inquiry after discovering the online gambling site, which accepted funds via an automatic deposit-withdrawal system through bank accounts and deposits in the AskMePay system. Players scanned the VPay QR code as well as the QR codes for Heng Online 888 or Heng Pay Company.

Police also discovered that payments received via QR code scans were transferred to the account of Heng Pay Co and then to the gambling website’s mule accounts using AskMePay, which did not use banks’ face recognition scanning. An inquiry indicated a monthly turnover of approximately 5 billion baht.

According to investigators, the website has been up and running for around four years, with the payment mechanism in use for roughly eight months.

According to Pol Maj Gen Athip, Mr Narote owns the gaming website’s payment systems and is the director of Heng Pay Co. After gathering evidence, authorities requested arrest warrants for 14 people.

Thailand does not allow almost any kind of gaming. Even though the law doesn’t say anything specific about online gaming, it is still considered gambling. The country has pretty strict rules about gambling. Thai punters can bet on the national lottery and horse races, but they can’t bet on any other types of games.

But it’s not a secret that there is a huge illegal gaming business in Thailand, even though it’s illegal.

The illegal casinos, online betting shops, underground lotteries, and pop-up bookies that take bets on everything from cockfights to Muay Thai make a shadow economy that is worth billions of dollars every year.