Pack attack thugs jailed

HUA HIN A gang of Thai thugs who carried out a brutal attack on a British family in Hua Hin have each been jailed for two years, according to a report posted on ThaiVisa.com, Sunday.

The four accused were handed a two-year jail term without the possibility of parole.

The attack, which took place, 13 April, during the Songkran festival at the popular beach resort some 160 km southwest of Bangkok, was captured on CCTV and made headlines worldwide.

Footage of the incident showed elderly British couple Rosemary Owen, 65, her husband Lewis, 68, and their son also called Lewis ,43, being beaten unconscious after becoming involved in an argument with the group of young men, while out celebrating Thai New Year.

The family were  also celebrating the father’s birthday and it understood they visited Thailand annually. The son works in Singapore and the parents live in Wales, UK.

During the savage ‘pack’ attack they were beaten to the ground and repeatedly kicked and stamped on before a defenceless Mrs Owen was kicked in the jaw as she tried to get up off the floor.

All the victims required hospital treatment, with Mrs Owen, the most seriously injured, requiring several operations to deal with swelling on her brain.

In the days after the attack, Hua Hin police quickly identified and arrested two of the attackers, with the two remaining suspects arrested after footage of the incident appeared online.  It was allegedly leaked to a local Hua Hin-based Thai news outlet by concerned officials, a decision that was criticised later by local police.

Kulsawek Sawekwannakorn, a Hua Hin based journalist working for Daily News, wrote on his Facebook page, Sunday, that the four men who admitted carrying out the attack, Siwa (Neng) Noksri, Chaya (Boy) Jaibun, Supatta (Mong) Baithong and Yingyai (M) Saengkhamin, were sentenced to two years in jail, without the possibility of parole.

Following the attack, a spokesperson for TAT was reported saying: “The Tourism Authority of Thailand would like to express our deepest sorrow to the family who were subjected to the assault in Hua Hin during the Songkran celebrations. We hope that you recover from your injuries and make a swift and full recovery.”

“TAT would like to assure international travellers that this was an isolated incident, not targeting  any group of foreign tourists in particular. The situation was exacerbated by alcohol.”

However, there has been a spate of violent attacks against tourists in popular tourist destinations, usually linked to heavy drinking.

In the Owens case, the prosecutors moved fast due to the overwhelming evidence presented by the CCTV clips. The Owens statements were given to the court before they left Thailand last month.

The incident was described as the most damaging in recent time for Hua Hin’s tourism industry, which has always been positioned as a few notches up the  security scale from Pattaya, its competitor directly across the Gulf of Thailand.

Most of the comments posted on ThaiVisa.com praised Thailand for handing down a tough sentence.