Expats Question Account of Aussie Death Plunge
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AV Eye Front Volume 17 Issue 25 News Desk - Tel: 076-273555 June 19 - 25, 2010 Daily news at www.phuketgazette.net 25 Baht The Gazette is published in association with End of the ordeal Charges dropped against Australian accused of sexual abuse INSIDE N AUSTRALIAN school before his arrest for unre- man arrested by po- lated reasons. lice in March for child The day after the charges Ancient healing molestation is now were dropped, Mr Clements told A Gazette free and trying to get his life back the that some foreign together after the Phuket Provin- inmates at Phuket Prison threat- cial Court on June 14 dropped the ened to arrange to have him killed case for lack of evidence. by Thai inmates if he refused to Andrew Clements of Tas- pay 50,000 baht. mania was arrested by Thalang He was busy meeting with Police in his Chalong home on the prison officials on Tuesday to try night of March 19. He spent 12 and get the money returned vol- days in prison before his release untarily, avoiding the need to on 800,000 baht bail. press charges. Mr Clements told the Ga- Despite never having been zette he went to Phuket Provin- formally charged by a court, Mr cial Court on June 14 for the first Clements’ passport was canceled A new medicinal spa in Nai Harn hearing in the case expecting to by the Australian government af- is dedicated to the traditional practice of Ayurveda. plead ‘not guilty’ to the Public ter his arrest and he now has to Page 10 Prosecutor’s charges. apply for a new one. The 51-year-old former bas- Mr Clements said he was NEWS: Patong to get wel- ketball star said he felt relief bor- basically satisfied with the media come sign; World Cup dering on shock when he learned coverage of his ordeal, except for lacks English; Tuk-tuk the charges had been dropped. reports that indicated he had been blockade at Deep Sea Port. “I was pretty shocked to be formally charged by the court. quite honest. Yesterday was sur- Mr Clements was quoted Pages 2 - 5 FREE: Andrew Clements is met by his girlfriend Sorn after his release real, remarkable. It was phenom- from Phuket Provincial Prison on March 30. by Australia’s ABC News net- LIFESTYLE: Nicky Ver- enal, especially from the psycho- work as saying he had recently meulen takes a look at the logical aspect of having been la- the circumstances that led to his said to have taken place. become inundated by calls from new belly dancing classes beled a ‘pedo’, especially when arrest as that could potentially “If I did the things to the kid the media and no longer wanted offered at RPM. you have views as strong as I do raise more ‘issues’ that could that they said I did he wouldn’t to comment because he was sick Page 8 about people who participate in lead to trouble. have been running around the of all the attention. BUSINESS & MONEY: such activities,” he said. However, he did describe the school, you can be sure of that,” His girlfriend Sorn, who has GAM Legal opens a new Asked if he felt he had been evidence against him as “pretty he said. stayed with him throughout the or- office in Bang Tao. framed by the boy’s parents, Mr outrageous” and highly implausible A former teacher at Phuket deal, told the Gazette Mr Clements Page 16 Clements said he was reticent to in terms of basic facts like places International Academy, Mr was tired and needed rest. release too many details about and times the alleged abuse was Clements was dismissed by the – Stephen Fein A ROUND THE NATION 6; A ROUND THE ISLAND 7; LIFESTYLE 9 & 10; EXPAT Expats question account of Aussie death plunge GALLERY 11; HAPPENINGS 12; GOOD LIVING 13; XPAT operators of a off the balcony of his room at the while trying to get back into the to his close friend who has since TALKING PLANES 14; Patong hotel have dis- Kanjana Hotel on Nanai Road room after locking himself out. left because he was so upset. He WHAT’S ON 15; TAKE A Emissed local media reports after an argument about the World Mr Pala said the Australian confirmed that he didn’t have a BREAK 17 & 18; BOOKS & that suggest an Australian man Cup with his “seasonal” Thai girl- couldn’t have had a fight with a girlfriend. The second thing is that HOROSCOPES 19; EDITORIAL, who plunged three stories to his friend, whose support of Germany Thai girlfriend – because he Shawn didn’t care about football LETTERS 20; FIRST PERSON, death on the morning of June 10 caused friction in their relationship. didn’t have one. at all. The last thing, that Shawn ISSUES & ANSWERS 21; took his own life following a Antonio Pala, the 38-year- “He stayed with one Thai girl came back every low season to SPORT 22 & 23; PROPERTY World Cup dispute with a Thai old Italian who operates the ho- the first three or four days, but it see this girl, is not true at all. Some- WATCH 24; CONSTRUCTION girlfriend. The death was most tel with his South African wife was the first time he met this girl. times he came with family, some- UPDATE 25; EARTH MAT- likely accidental, they said. Cynthia Velopjara, said all evi- He usually seemed to like farang times with friends and sometimes TERS 26; PROPERTY 27; According to one media out- dence suggests Mr Morris acci- ladies more than Thais,” he said. with an Australian girlfriend.” CLASSIFIED ADS 28-40. let, 29-year-old Shawn Morris fell dentally fell from the hotel roof “I saw this story and talked Continued on page two 2 PHUKET GAZETTE NEWS June 19 - 25, 2010 Death plunge Continued from page one “He also came in the high English out of World Cup season as well as the low sea- son. So this story is completely Phuket fans let down by lack of English commentary in Thai broadcasts untrue in my opinion,” said the Italian. OOTBALL fans across in Thailand. Its terrestrial TV On the day of the accident, the globe are complaining partners in Thailand are provid- Mr Morris greeted staff when he about the vuvuzela – the ing broadcasts with Thai com- returned at about 4am and called Fgaudy plastic horn bring- mentary. his friend at 4:15am to tell him he ing a cacophonous din to the RS sold the rights to HD was back and safe. He fell at soundtrack of matches during this broadcasts of the games to about 5am, Mr Pala said. year’s FIFA World Cup in South TrueVisions, the country’s only “When I went inside the Africa. legal satellite provider. room with the police there were But expat fans in Phuket Many of the island’s bar no other signs that others were have an audio complaint of their owners snapped up the HD pack- present,” he said. own: the lack of English-language age, thinking they’d get English lan- “He didn’t have any prob- commentary on Thai broadcasts guage commentary. They didn’t. lems with anyone else. Okay, he of the games. One bar owner in Chalong drank too much, that’s true. Yes, While some venues seem to told the Gazette that TrueVisions he started drinking in the after- have access to matches complete did not tell him the commentary noons and had long drinking ses- with commentary in English, would be in Thai. “If I knew this, sions. But my wife told me she many of those without the right I wouldn’t have spent the talked to him the day before and satellite dish or cable supplier money,” he said. he said he had a new job driving can’t provide their Back in Kata, trucks in Australia, so I don’t think foreign customers ‘It’s easy to see the bar owner there he committed suicide, nor do I with commentary said he assumed En- think anybody killed him.” they understand. why Fifa didn’t glish-language com- Evidence suggests the fall Andrew Scott, want the Thai- mentary would be in- was an accident, he said. a 30-year-old foot- com 5 satellite cluded because it A metallic door on the roof ball-loving Phuket broadcasting came as standard that should have been closed was expat, said commen- with other sports found open, a piece of roof was tary in his native English-lan- packages, such as broken off and found near the tongue helped him guage coverage coverage of English body, and Mr Morris’s room key get more engrossed in to a large swathe Premier League was never recovered, Mr Pala the action. of the Asia-Pa- matches. explained. “Thai commen- cific region.’ “I have one “So the most probable thing tary doesn’t do that person that I normally THE VUVUZELA: Some say this isn’t the biggest annoyance at the 2010 was that he came back at about because you’ve got deal with there and World Cup. AFP Photo 4am, then went out again for no idea what’s going on,” he said. she didn’t tell me it wasn’t in En- something later but then lost his “You just end up standing in front glish,” he said. ming at TrueVisions, explained, out was ordered by Fifa, “for non- key. So I think he tried to get into of the screen and speaking with TrueVisions Service Officer “This is not the fault of RS Inter- encrypted broadcast in Thailand”.