Another Aussie in schtuk in LOS
 

The Australian woman arrested in Thailand for allegedly stealing a bar mat says she's "scared, helpless and alone" and is pleading for the Rudd government to intervene.

Annice Smoel, who spent four days in a cramped Thai jail with three other women, described her holiday gone wrong as "totally unbelievable".

Smoel, 36, from Montrose in Melbourne's east, faces five years in jail, but insists she's done nothing wrong.

During a telephone link-up from Phuket with reporters, she broke down saying she just wanted to get home to her four young daughters aged six, eight, 11 and 12.

"They are terrified and scared. I've already missed so much, I really want to be a good mum," she said.

Asked how she felt, she said "just scared, helpless, alone".

In the 14 days since her arrest for taking the bar mat from the Aussie Bar in Phuket where she was celebrating her mother's 60th birthday, she has missed one daughter's birthday, another's appendix operation and Mother's Day.

In a plea to the government, she said: "You've got to help me, I have not done anything wrong, this is a crock."

Her husband Darren has flown to Phuket to be by his wife's side.

"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 said.

Despite Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying all

available consular assistance is being provided, Mr Smoel says the action of the Australian government and consulate authorities has been "nowhere near good enough".

The family had tried offering money to Thai authorities but that was refused.

The owner of the Aussie Bar, Steve Wood, told Fairfax Radio Network that he believed Smoel had been abusive toward the undercover police who had stopped her in the bar.

"When they talked to her all they wanted to do was chastise her, and they usually let you go, but she did a runner on them... the police had to chase her down the beach," Mr Wood said.

"When they took her back to the police station, she continued to abuse everyone at the police station including the chief of police and I think this is what the problem is.

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

She was charged with a "night time theft".

Mr Wood said he had not pressed charges.

Smoel insisted she was innocent of the theft which was committed by a friend who confessed to the police but was told to go away.

"I have been treated unfairly and held here for something I didn't do," she told Fairfax News Radio.

"They know I didn't do it, they have video evidence and one of the girls who was involved went down to the police on Sunday morning and confessed to the crime and apologised and they told her to go away, they didn't care."

Police confiscated Smoel's passport.

Mr Rudd says consular officials in Thailand are assisting Smoel.

"I've just been advised about this, the Foreign Minister and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are on top of this case," Mr Rudd told reporters in Melbourne .

"They are providing every level of consular assistance to the family and the individual concerned."

Smoel 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.

Raises a few questions.
Why were the thai coppers in the bar undercover? I know it happens, but were they expecting something more substantial than a bit of petty larceny?
Why didn't the silly cow just pay the coppers off then and there?
During today I've heard three different people call up radio stations here and say similar things have happened to them at the same bar. Some admitted to pinching bar mats, which seems to be a national pastime among Aussies in Poo-ket, some said it was a total scam. The money quoted was in 10s of 1000s of baht, which makes 200b for not wearing a motosai helmet in Pattaya look pretty weak.
Why do people who get arrested overseas think their embassy will get them out of trouble? If I was a junior embassy official, getting a good whack to live in an exotic city, no way I'd be sticking my head up to champion the cause of some drunkard.

I agree. That, and hurling abuse at a senior Thai copper.
I wonder did she have something in her bag besides the rag that prompted her to run?
:cokeline:

I know Steve the owner of the Aussie Bar in Bang La . He's a good guy and he wasn't in the cuntry when this happened. He does have some cops hang around after their shift finishes and he pays some to do security work for him. This incident is gaining momentum, with Kevin from Heaven weighing in now. But apparently she fucked it up by doing what the Pommie guy Mr Burroughs did with Immigration officials in Phuket and abused them. She also allegedly tried to bolt.

If she had of been polite and remorseful, she might have been OK. But this just highlights the need to keep your cool and behave calmly in situations with thai officials,....no matter how wrong they may be. Its a no win situation otherwise.:whips:

I've met Steve as well....had brekkie with him every day I was in Poo-ket....he's bezzie mates with the owner of the place I stayed.

Good bloke......but talking to a friend in Poo-ket last night, apparently its a scam well-known to locals. The cops shake a tourist down, split it 50-50 with the bar. Don't know if that means the owner, or more likely the Thai management.

Maybe Steve will have to do a "Coyote" to get rid of his cheatiing staff.

Depends realy if he get a cut of the money or not ????

Yepp................. love is in the air me thinks........... wouldnt that be lovely fig.................. ash sitting in your coutch drinking your beer and your wifes prepairing food in the kitchen compairing gold and stuff............ you will never be alone again...........

I hope he didn't mean crutch.....:unsure:

Steves bar is one of the busiest and best on Bang La , i would be very surprised if it got that way by doing shakedowns of its patrons !!!!!! Wery surprised. ....it would be a little like bizniz :suicidal:

Me too after Friday:wank: