sentenced to death

[jambo]

bbc news are reporting the 2 thai fishermen have been given life sentance
i will try to find a link

[jambo]

SURAT THANI, Thailand (Reuters) - Two Thai fishermen were sentenced to death on Wednesday for the rape and murder of student Katherine Horton after an unusually short trial and sustained political pressure.

"The court has ruled them guilty of all the crimes they were charged with and imposes the maximum penalty," judge Jamnong Sudjaimai told the two men in the packed courtroom in the southern province of Surat Thani.

Bualoi Posit, 23, and Wichai Somkhaoyai, 24, arrested 10 days ago, pleaded guilty last Thursday to charges of rape, pre-meditated murder and hiding the corpse of the 21-year-old Horton on the resort island of Samui.

Police say the pair had watched pornographic movies on their boat before swimming ashore to rape Horton, who was studying at Reading University and was on holiday on Koh Samui with a friend over the New Year.

[tuktukmike]

Just read this in Bangkok post.

Rape is almost never about sex.

Just two weeks into the first month of 2006, two foreign women visiting Thailand have been raped. One of them killed, and while the Goverment and police are being praised for looking into the who, no one seems to care about the why.
On Jan 2, 21 year-old Briton Katherine Horton"s beaten body was found off the waters of Koh Samui. Touring the Beautiful island, she probably thought she was in heaven, and tragically ended up in the real place.
Two Thai fishermen have admitted raping and killing her, but we may never know what really happened.

Last saturday, a 29-year-old British woman suffered a similar fate in the resort city of Pattayathough she was fortunately able to tell her story the next day. A 19-year-old Thai man has been charged with her rape.

For the victims of these heinous crimes, it must be of small comfort to know the culprits have been found and will be punished. For this country, these crimes are just the shadow of a deeper, darker problem no one seems concerned about. And they should be, because for these men, the rapes weren"t about intercourse.

It has a lot more to do with being on top for a change. Its true that crimes against tourists happens all over the world and Thailand is certainly not the exception.
But this country needs to know why some of its men are looking for power in one of the most mercyless ways.

Perhaps these men are commiting the crinimal act that proves they are men because they dont feel like men at all. In cities like the ones where the recent rapes occurred. When motorcycle drivers and fishermen look around they probably see two things: glamerous resorts where foreigners are making or spending more money than they will ever know, and foreigners luring their woman away with the very same commodity.

Do some common Thai men who have been left out of tourism"s prosperity feel angst at being at the bottom of everything?.

Probably, are they mad about the money and the men?. It would be hard not to be.

In the Horton case, news stories have reported the two rapists boasting about their disgusting and despicable deed afterwards as if it was something worth praise.

One has to wonder, Is raping foreign women their way of settling the score?.

We can only speculate, but if this is true, and its certainly a possabillity, something needs to be done and all the executions in Thailand won"t be enough of a deterrent in stopping such sex crimes.

These men are poor, irate, powerless and unafraid of punishment. Its been proven the reason why most people don"t commit crimes is not because they dont want to do the act, its because they fear the punishment.

For these rapists, life as a free but lesser man must not be much better than one behind Bars.

Makes you think?

Mike.

[tuktukmike]

As an add on.

Thailand has the third highest numbers of murders by firearms (per capita) in the world.

USA, comes in at eight. The United Kingdom at 32.

United Nations.

Mike.

[Guess]

That is a statistic that I find extremely difficult to believe. What were the top two. I would love to know by what method these statistics are compiled and what criteria is used to determine what is indeed a murder. When you think that we share this planet with Pakistan, Colombia, Belize, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Bolivia, Russia, Haiti, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea etc. etc. etc.

I am supposed to believe that there are only two of those that have a higher gun murder rate per cap than Thailand. Additionally I have read recently (the BKK Post I think) that Thailand has one of the lowest murder rates in the region only bettered by Singapore (one of the lowest rates in the world ranking alongside Iceland and Lichstenstein) and Malaysia. That seems a little more credible but I could be wrong.

I wonder what figures Amnesty International have.

I last heard that the murder rate estimate in Papua New Guinea was 1.5 in every thousand per year. Making it probably the highest rate in the world. Of course many of these murders would have been by knife, machette or bow and arrow so I guess do not count.

The other countries that I have mentioned have easy access to guns in abundance in fact in some central American counrie guns have become the only reliable exchange currency other than the US dollar.
_________________
G

[Farang]

[tuktukmike]

Stop right there.

Tuktukmike never wrote but copied word for word Bangkok post today page 10, comment.

As for throwaways, maybe.

But remember that a high percentage of these throwaways although working in bars do already have Thai boyfriends.

My opinion was not expressed in this first post just as said, makes you think.

I was going to quote something i saw in night crawlers that more or less gives this whole article credit but maybe time is needed to reflect on this article by all.

Mike.

[Burger]

We can't have it both ways Mike, either we are 'luring their girls away' or a 'high percentage of these girls already have Thai boyfriends'.

If it's the former then I can understand Thai guys getting the hump, if it's the latter then the foreigners who pay the bar girls, are actually lining the pockets of these Thai men that are supposedly upset with the foreigners ?

I read that the two Thai fishermen had been drinking heavily and watching pornos, this gives me the indication of what their motivation was.

[kevars]

Getting back to the original thread , here in the u.k , i believe many people think the 2 thai guys are getting the right punishment for this horrible crime they commited but many people and i include myself , are worried at the speed at which these guys have been caught , questioned , sentenced etc , maybe its just the legal system we are used too as farangs ?

[Jaime]

I have to agree with the premise of Mike's BKK Post article. It is something I have considered for a long time. Immigrants are mistrusted all over the world but usually they are a social underclass. In Thailand it is the opposite - the locals have become the underclass and on top of that the immigrants seem far more attractive to their women. The whole situation is bound to create resentment - I can see it getting worse before it gets better.
_________________
"The man who never made a mistake never did bugger all" - Old Welsh proverb

"Why limit yourself to the death of a crummy celery stalk when you can eat a giraffe?" - PWEETA

[tuktukmike]

Hi Burger.

Now thats the funny thing,

These two poor fishermen who were pennyless and lived on the beach had been drinking heavily, Ok got that part.

Were watching porno videos??? on the beach.

Maybe i have misunderstood the reports somewhere along the line but they must have had one hell of an extension cable.

As i said i have not expressed my personal opinion it just makes you think.

Jamie may have a point, remember we are driving up land prices in many of the areas that this sort of crime takes place.

I have seen places where Thais have lived for many years only to be moved on for new developments to take place.

This is not all the fault of the Farang as Thais also want to cash in on the land and property prices.but we have to accept we are pushing many poor families further out of the cities.

Mike.

Personally i would agree with a post i read earlier, give them life in the BKK Hilton.

[Jaime]

BBC & ITN news both reported this morning that the two fishermen are to appeal, which can take up to two years.
_________________
"The man who never made a mistake never did bugger all" - Old Welsh proverb

"Why limit yourself to the death of a crummy celery stalk when you can eat a giraffe?" - PWEETA

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